A Brit in La Push?
by FrozenStrawberries
Summary: Meet Aly Lawden. Life is pretty average until she's uprooted from the sleepy English seaside resort, Torquay, and flown across the world to La Push; an equally sleepy town with worse beaches! Or so she thinks.. Embry/OC
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

I took one last good look around my old room. Just for these last few moments it was still mine, even if it was devoid of completely everything that made it mine in the first place. There was no comfy bed with the duvet thrown halfway off. There was no massive desk cluttered up with make up, pens, food, and general rubbish. The walls were empty, the pictures and posters had been taken down and packed away. The shelves looked naked without books piled upon them.

I sighed, it wasn't my room anymore. It wasn't my sanctuary any longer. The windows didn't squeak when I let myself in at night after sneaking out. The lock on the door worked and kept the world out when I wanted to get away from the screams of my family. I knew I was being stupid, it was just a room, a blank canvas which you created and turned into your own space. However, seeing it empty now really hit home the fact I was leaving.

Sure, I'd cried when I said my last goodbyes to friends. I'd frowned when they took my things away in boxes. But now was different. I guess I'd always hoped somehow that it would stop; someone would say it was all a joke. My dad wasn't really getting relocated to the end of the world, and he wasn't dragging us all with him.

Not being able to bear the silence and emptiness of the room any longer, I turned away from it, my chest feeling heavy and my throat feeling thick.

"Okay sweetie, you're all ready to go?" my mum asked as I came down the stairs. She was a short woman, just under 5ft. Compared to my family I was a giant; a 'staggering' 5"3. I looked over her head and saw my older sister was waiting in the car for me. I gave my mum a weak smile and walked past her out to the old banger that got us around. My dad had a bit of an obsession for old cars, he attempted to fix them up and sell them, but he never seemed to make a profit. It was like an out of control hobby, at one point we had nine, yes that's right NINE, old rusting Saabs shoved in places near or outside our house in Torquay.

I sighed again thinking about it. To be honest, I'd never really even liked Torquay. It had a reputation with stag groups for 'clubs, drugs and girls' and you could see the signs of a failing English Seaside Town everywhere. The place was being taken over by chavs, and the buildings were crumpling down.

I guess I would just miss England in general. There wasn't a lot to do down in the South West, but my friends and I got by; shopping in the town in Exeter, summer beach days, rainy beach days. I'd always lived by the sea. My mum told me this place we were going to would be exactly the same; she delighted in telling me that when she and my dad visited the locals hung out on the beach all the time.

Unfortunately for me though, she had explained that the weather was the same as here as well. It was typical! When my friends had found out I was moving to America they were thrilled!

"California, with the sun and OC?" No.

"Hollywood, with the stars?" No.

"The Big Apple?" No.

"Texas? Will you go to a rodeo?" Nope.

"So where exactly are you moving to?" They asked when their knowledge of the USA had been exhausted.

"It's a tiny place in the middle of nowhere basically called La Push. No sun. No stars. No shops. The only thing it has got is a beach and a massive wood apparently."

I always got the same response, "Oh… that will be… umm… nice?"

And then we would laugh, and I would push it to the back of my mind, and concentrate on enjoying the little time I still had left with my friends. Then before I knew it, it was late August and here I was squished next to my sister as we took the long drive to the airport.

***

I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up we had stopped. _They weren't kidding about the rain, _I thought to myself. We were parked outside a large white house, not that you could see much through the steamed up windows. I looked over at my sister, Tessa, who grinned at me.

"Best room dips!" She yelled as she unbuckled and slammed the door. You wouldn't believe she was eighteen this year. Despite my being drowsy from the flight and jet lag, I copied her and ran up to the house. We slowed when we had finished running up the winding path to the front door. The house was what I expected, a big wooden door framed with a white porch. The entrance went straight into a comfortably sized lounge with a larger kitchen off to the side. My dad, who had come over before us, had been busy. Our settees and dinning table were already in place.

Tessa took this all in at the same time as me, and I followed her keen sense of direction until we found the stairs. The first flight had the 'main' bedroom (reserved for the parents, off limits to us). There was a bathroom and another room that I guessed would be the 'study'. The next floor had two rooms opposite each other; the only difference was the views. I let Tessa take the one with the sea view; she was artier than me and claimed she needed the 'inspiration'.

My new room overlooked the side of the house, and the woods that seemed to surround this tiny place. There seemed to be an endless amount of greenery here, it must be all the rain. I brightened up at seeing the window seat, I'd always wanted to have one where I would just sit and read, just relax.

The window took up a fair amount of the wall, and I was glad that I'd have natural light flowing in. Turning around I saw my boxes had already been put up here, along with my bed. I grinned, my dad obviously knew me far too well.

I grabbed the nearest box labelled "ALY" and pulled it open to look inside. I let out a groan, I hated unpacking, and this was going to take so long.

***

The rain had stopped when the doorbell rang and my mum's soft voice, echoed by Tessa's harsh one, called to me "Aly, can you get that please?"

I'd given up on unpacking and was in the lounge trying to understand how American TV worked. I didn't have a clue what some people were saying because of their accents, and I longed for a bit of E4 Skins or the Inbetweeners. Hauling myself out of the sofa I opened the door cautiously.

A woman in her late thirties, though it was hard to tell, was standing their smiling at me. "Hello I'm Jenny Connweller, and this is my daughter Kim," I peered round and saw a girl around my age flash me a wide smile and an enthusiastic wave, "and we know you just moved in and everything, but we thought we'd bring you and your family over some food as a welcome!"

I was a bit taken back; I thought this kind of thing only happened in films? I'd never even spoken to my neighbors back in Torquay.

"Wow, that's so nice of you! Come in," I wasn't sure if I could invite strangers in but I couldn't just leave them standing there when they had food! "I'm Alisha Lawden, though everyone calls me Aly."

By the time I'd finished with the introductions my mum had come downstairs and had began her life story. Mrs Connweller seemed to find it thrilling and they got along like a house on fire. I had no worries about my mum being lonely then…

I showed Kim around the house and then we went up to my room. She was a genuinely nice girl, I only knew a few people like her, and they were far away now. She had medium length black hair that was tied up in a pony tail revealing her face. Her skin was a light russet colour with a shimmer to it that obviously didn't come from tanning.

After a couple of awkward conversation starters I finally asked, "So Kim, where do you go to school around here?"

"Well there's the main Forks High out of the reservation, but there's one here too that I go to. We start back in a week."

I nodded, "I think that's the one I'm going to as well." Kim smiled at me and just nodded.

"Great. So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you move here? Why La Push? ~I mean I've always wanted a British friend so I'm not complaining!"

I laughed, I'd been told I would have to put up with a lot of _OMG I loorve your accent! Say Cheerio! Say Bloody Hell! Say pip pip old chap!_

"Umm, well my dad works for this geographical company, and the big bosses needed someone to volunteer for a project they're starting out here. My grandma was Quileute and my dad lived here until he was about thirteen. So of course he wanted to show me and Tessa the joys of La Push if he could." I could barely keep the sarcasm out of my voice as I finished.

Kim didn't seem to notice my scorn for her hometown though, and just nodded saying, "Wow that's such a coincidence isn't it?"

"Mhmm I guess it is…" I'd never really seen it that way, so I changed the subject, "I'm so pale though I stick out here like a sore thumb! Tessa's so much more tanned than me."

Soon after that we talked more and more, about my life in England and hers over here. I could tell she was shy, but she was never horrible. She wanted to make me feel welcomed, and I appreciated that. When it was pitch black dark outside, Mrs. Connweller came up looking for us, telling Kim she was heading back home now.

As Kim was leaving she unexpectantly turned and hugged me, "I'm going to take you out tomorrow Aly, show you around you know? There's only a week of summer left and you can't spend it unpacking!" We laughed together and I smiled.

"Thanks Kim that would be great."

After I waved her out the door, I turned to my mum who grinned at me, "Nice family aren't they?" I nodded and told her about my plans for tomorrow.

"Lovely girl that one. See I told you it wouldn't be all bad. You and your sister will be settled in no time!"

And as I went to bed that night I couldn't help but agree with her. The comforting noise of the rain outside calmed me, and I forgot I was halfway across the world. I had a feeling La Push would be… interesting.


	2. Chapter 2: Through the trees

**Okay, now I have sort of got the hang of this place, expect updates flying thick and fast.**

**I hope the first chapter wasn't too tedious, just to introduce you to Aly and her life. Enter Wolf Pack ;)**

**Oh also, I don't like the American spelling of 'colour' or 'favourite' so I'm rebelling against the little red squiggly line and keeping it the English way!  
Let me know if I get any facts hideously wrong (I don't have the books at the moment to confirm anything)  
**

*******  
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I woke up at 8am. Well, at least in _my_ mind it was 8am. According to the American world outside however, it was pitch black, and after counting backwards I figured it must have been 3am. **Great**.

I didn't feel the least bit sleepy, so I turned on the lamp I'd set up between my bed and the window. After rummaging around in a box which contained a bunch of my favourite books, I picked one and went over to my window seat. After a moment of consideration I went back to my bed and dragged over the duvet and a pillow to make myself more comfy. I pulled the curtains back as well; _no-one will see me, its only woods out there._

I must have been reading for about an hour in my own little world before I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. My instant paranoid reaction kicked in, and I scanned my room quickly. I then peered out of the window into the darkness. The lower branches of a tree on my right moved again. After struggling with the latch for some time, I finally managed to get the window to pop open, and stuck my head out to get a better look without having to see my reflection in the glass.

It was relatively warm outside, so it wasn't the cold air that sent shivers down my spine or made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. It was an eerie feeling, like I wanted to slam the window, pull the curtains shut, crawl into bed and hide. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until branches shuddered further along the line of trees surrounding our house, and I gasped. _It's probably just the wind,_ I told myself, _You're just overreacting like always Aly!_

I still couldn't shake the creepy feeling though, so I shut my window. I continued to look out the window into the darkness, thinking of logical explanations. _Wind, a lost cat or dog, or a wild animal_… I stopped myself at the last one. It was true I didn't know what animals lived in the woods here, and I knew that La Push could have things like bears, wolves, even mountain lions. I shook myself to my senses. _It could easily just have been a deer, or a rabbit, or even a small harmless mouse!_ I rubbed my arms to get rid of the goose bumps and picked up my book again.

That was one easy thing about me; I could escape into my own world so quickly. Once my family was flying to Manchester and it was the worst turbulence I'd ever experienced. So as Tessa and my mum clung onto each other groaning and whimpering that they were going to die, I sat with my head bent over a book, and in a few minutes I'd forgotten I was even on a plane.

However that didn't happen now, there was still a nagging feeling in the back of my head torn between looking outside and running to hide. I did neither, firmly not moving my head an inch either towards the window or the bed. I didn't move until the sun began to peek out over the tree tops, and I allowed myself to look in awe.

I'd never really been fully awake early enough to see dawn break. Now, I marveled at the beauty of the sky lighting up and the sun bursting through the trees creating patterns on our garden.

"I guess you did get the best view then Aly." I jumped at hearing my sister's voice, and turned around to see her. She was standing in my doorway, her hair was a mess, and she had dark circles around her eyes.

"Morning Tess, you look like crap." She pulled a face and walked over to my window seat, sitting opposite me and pulled the duvet over herself.

"So do you Al. I heard you scrabbling around earlier. A _lot_ earlier. What were you doing?!" I held up my book and waggled in her face.

"Couldn't sleep. Stupid time difference." She nodded then turned to look back out to the rising sun. I was only one year younger than Tessa, and we got on really well compared to normal siblings. She used to tease me, I used to tell on her, but when she hit sixteen she wanted to be the 'caring older sister' all of a sudden. I realized that I could count on her in my times of need, and she knew that I wouldn't tell mum or dad about anything she trusted me with. We formed an unspoken bond, sisters united. It grew stronger when we found out about moving; knowing we only had each other now.

Like I said earlier, Tess had darker skin than me. She looked more exotic with dark ringlets framing her face, deep brown eyes, and a full mouth. You had to really look hard at me to see my heritage. It was there in my dark hair which was naturally straight. I had thick lashes and eyebrows which went out of control if I didn't pluck them almost daily. I had my mum's eyes though, a mix of light brown in the middle which then bled into a mossy green. I used to be jealous of Tessa's looks before it came up in one of our late night chats, and I found out that as I was envious of her tan, she wanted my height and paler complexion. Now I was comfortable in myself, and that confidence made me happier.

After we watched the sunrise, she knocked my book out of my hands and onto the floor. "Come on nerd, I'll make us a cup of tea and you can tell me about this Kim girl. Mum said you were going out with her today?"

I dumped my duvet back on the bed and followed her down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Yep. She seems really nice and she's starting 6th Form the same as me next week."

Tess put the kettle on and started opening and closing all the cupboards searching for the tea bags. "That's good; at least _you'll_ know someone! What about me eh? How will I survive with no friends this week?" She laughed. Tessa was so easy going it was had for her _not_ to go anywhere and make instant friends. She wasn't scared or worried about starting next week, unlike me. "And remember its not _6__th__ Form_, we're in the USA now Al. You gotta start learning the lingo, isn't it _college?_"

I laughed at her putting on a fake American accent, "Well if that's true then we'd better give up all our tea and take up coffee." She spun around, mouth open. I grinned back, "I know, stupid idea."

I spent the rest of the morning getting ready to go out with Kim and mucking around with Tessa. At around 11 the doorbell went and I ran down to get it. Kim was standing there, smiling, in jeans and a simple t-shirt.

I peeked outside behind her to see if it was still raining. Getting the all clear from the blue sky, I knew I was okay in my shorts over the top of leggings. As I went to grab my phone I took a hoodie with me as well, just in-case.

"So Kim," I said once we were outside, "where are we off to?"

"Well I thought I'd take you around to the beach, maybe to this part where the woods are thinner, it's so pretty. Then we can go down to the strip of shops for lunch or something?"

"Sounds like a date to me," I winked at her and she laughed. "But yea that's good."

We walked down to the end of my road; she flashed her hand at where her house was as we passed, it was three doors down from me. I had no idea where we were walking, but the time past quickly talking to Kim about school, what subjects we were taking etc. I realized that I was asking all the questions new kids had asked me on their first days while they got settled.

Kim slowed down as we passed a place where the thick forest on our left began to thin out. "Okay so this is what we call the _Green_. It's just somewhere me and my friends hang out when the weather is nice." I looked at her in amazement and she sighed, "Yes okay that's probably not very often but hey, look how today turned out!"

She was right; I hadn't needed my hoodie at all. When the sun came out it _really_ came out. We chose a spot and lay down, and I, like the typical Brit that I am, stretched out to try and get a tan.

"So what are your friends like?" I asked, wanting to know as much as possible before meeting them. I wasn't very good with names, so I liked to get a head start. I was also surprised at the mention of Kim's friends. It wasn't like she seemed a loner, she was really sweet natured, but she didn't seem like a social butterfly either.

"Well, I sort of hang round with this group of boys. They're more like my boyfriend's friends you know?" I cocked an eyebrow at her and gave her a cheeky grin; she had never mentioned her _boyfriend._

"Boyfriend eh?" I gave her a wink and she blushed a deep red. "Come on give me some details Kim, I need some good gossip to keep me going!"

"Well… his name is Jared… and umm… we've been seeing each other for quite a while now." She stuttered.

"Is he nice?"

She nodded vigorously and turned over so she was resting on her elbows, "He's lovely, you should meet him he's so friendly."

I flung an arm over my eyes as I lay on my back, "So what are his friends like?" I tried to steer the subject away before she turned into a gushy girlfriend on me, or worse thought I was too interested in him with all my questions. It's happened.

"Well they're kind of mixed ages, Sam is older, and…"

She stopped talking suddenly and I moved my arm so I could crack open an eyelid to look at her.

Kim was looking ahead, behind where my head was, into the woods. Her face had lit up with a massive smile. I called to her and she looked down at me with that smile still stuck in position. "Looks like I don't need to tell you, they're here Aly."

I turned over so I mirrored her position, and followed the direction she was looking in.

Stalking out of the forest were four guys. I couldn't call them boys. My jaw went slack for a second before I regained control of it and shut it properly. They were _gorgeous! A_ll were shirtless, wearing only cut offs that looked worn and tired. They were solid, well build, and _massively tall_! Muscles defined their arms and chests. Each one had gleaming black hair, though each had it in a different style. The one in front looked somewhat fiercer than the other three. There was something in his face that scared. It could have been the way his eyes searched the surroundings or the hard expression on his face than made him seem displeased with everything he saw. Behind him were two not looking in our direction. One was shorter than the other, a big grin spread over his face.

Luckily I was already on the ground; otherwise the other would have made my legs go weak. He was six feet of pure perfection. His skin was flawless, his jet black hair longer and ruffled. He had the balance perfect between tone and muscle, he wasn't a body builder, yet he wasn't a scrawny teen. Dark caramel eyes laughed as he knocked playfully into his friend.

"Kim!" a voice yelling from the back of the group of boys snapped me out of my staring. The last half naked guy was racing towards us. Kim's smile got even bigger, if that was possible, and she began to stand up. I picked grass off myself while they had a 'reunion'. I wasn't a big fan of PDA's. When they were finished I took a good look at Jared, as I assumed now that Kim didn't have many girl friends to pass judgment on him.

He was quite a bit taller than Kim, but not so much that he had to stoop to kiss her. I could tell from the way his eyes pored into hers that he wasn't like the boys had had come across before. He really, truly respected her. I approved.

"Aly this is Jared, Jared this is my new friend Aly. She's just moved here from England!" Kim said, gesturing at me. I smiled and stuck my hand out. He gave me a large toothy grin and I saw what Kim meant, his face was full of kindness, it was open. He politely shook my hand and I noticed how warm he was. It wasn't surprising though after all that running; I'd be burning up too!

"England?" he whistled quietly, "Why on earth did you move here?"

"Secret relocation scheme." I said seriously. He nodded in response just as seriously, and then let out a small smile.

By this time the other three had caught up, and they greeted Kim like a sister with warm embraces. She introduced me to them, "This is Sam," the scary, hard faced one looked at me but did not show any reaction "and Paul." She pointed to the smaller one who nodded and gave me a small forced smile. I waited with anticipation for whom I knew would be next. The perfect stranger. "And this is Embry." I looked up shyly into his eyes and smiled. He still had a grin on his face from earlier laughing with Paul, however when his caramel eyes locked with mine that grin fell and his eyes went wide with what looked like shock. He exhaled quickly and loudly, though maybe it was just loud because I was near him? I bit my lip, unsure what to do. I looked down, breaking eye contact. Feeling an awkward silence building I turned to look at everyone else, Sam was frowning, staring at Embry. Jared was exchanging glances with Kim. Paul began tugging Embry's arm until he finally looked away from me and at Paul. He shuddered ever so slightly.

Wanting the silence to be over, and fast, I piped up, "So who out of you guys will I be seeing at school?"

Jared, only too eager to start talking, sat down on the grass and informed me that he and Paul were in the year above us, and Embry was in our year. Sam had a job.

Kim and I sat down, as did Paul. Embry was still standing looking vaguely confused until Sam spoke gruffly, "I think I'm going to go visit Emily. Embry, will you come?"

I watched, trying to be a subtle as possible, as he looked at Sam without actually seeing him. His gaze quickly flitting back to me and he slowly nodded his head. Then without another word the two of them walked swiftly back into the woods.

That was strange.

My forehead crinkled as I watched them go, or rather watched Embry go. It was odd, my heart sank a little and my good mood sizzled a bit.

Following my gaze Jared nudged me, "Don't worry about Em, Aly. He's just real shy around new people, especially girls."

Shocked, I snapped out of my trancelike state. "Shy?! How could someone so gorgeous be lacking in confidence? I expected his ego to be _huge_!" The words slipped out before I could stop them. I felt my face turn slowly red as grins spread across the boys' faces.

"Gorgeous?" Paul scoffed. Jared just threw his head back and laughed until Kim kicked him.

"Stop that guys, don't be mean to Aly! She isn't used to half naked guys wondering around so casual. England is prim and proper!"

_Great,_ I thought, _I haven't even known them five minutes and they're already laughing at me_. But instead of clamming up like I usually would have done, I just shrugged and laughed a little at myself.

_If you can't beat 'em, join 'em._

*********

**Woopa, another one done and dusted!  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to hell

**Number 3. Yay. Any feedback is welcomed! Stick to Aly's POV or would you like Embry's in there too?**

**Enjoy!**

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The next few days flew by. Kim either came round everyday, or I went to hers. We stayed in when the rain came poring down as it so often did, watching films with a good amount of pizza and chips. On the third day the sun decided to shine, so she drove me around in her car. I'm not very 'with it' when it comes to motors, so all I can say is that Kim's hunk of metal was old, rusty, and terrifying when she drove any faster than 30mph. She laughed at my complaints and whimpers whenever the car juddered as we flew down bumpy lanes. Apparently Jared knew some mechanic who had made sure it was 'extra safe, safer than any car that drives the president around'. I was not at all comforted; who would drive the President around in something that looked like it would fall apart if you slammed the door too forcefully?

She drove us to Forks, another sleepy, wet town that contained slightly less trees and slightly more people. We had lunch in a typical American 'diner' which made me long for a decent cup of tea. I found myself wanting classic pub food, Devonshire cream teas, hell I'd even go for Oggy Oggy Pasties!!

As I spent the days with Kim, I spent the nights paranoid and jumpy. I still wasn't used to the time change, but I had managed to stay asleep until 6am. However bang on the hour I was awake, no hope of returning to my dreams. I had gotten into the routine of sitting on my window seat, half reading, and half watching the woods. Any movement made me panic, and I would glare out into the trees through my open window until chills raked my body.

I knew there was something out there.

It wasn't just my imagination, and I **wasn't** going mad with sleep deprivation. After the third night I decided to investigate, in broad daylight of course. Before I was due to meet Kim for the day I had snuck into the spot I had so often stared into. The bracken was thick, covered by leaves. It looked as if a person had been walking through, dragging their feet. At this one spot the leaves were disturbed. To be rational I told myself it could be a fox, a badger, _but did they even have those in La Push?_ It could be a deer, but they weren't nocturnal, _were they?_

As my knowledge of animals in this country was limited¸ I was resolved to watch from my window, to get a look at my woody neighbour. It would put my mind at rest.

But soon enough the week had ended. It was time to start La Push High. My parents had decided that although I was now in America and therefore legally allowed to drive, they would be 'fair' to Tessa and not allow me to take my test until I was 17. It was annoying, and it meant I had to rely on Kim or Tessa driving me around until December.

Being the caring older sister, Tess had agreed to take us both to school and back each day. I suspected however it had something to do with the offer of petrol money.

So here I was, standing outside in the cold staring up at the steps leading into my new hell hole. Its not like I _hate_ school, I just wasn't looking forward to the quick judgments and the instant labeling that I'd heard so much about. Yes, okay so maybe I was a worker, I _wanted_ to get ahead and be the best. I was competitive, just not in sports. I was a geek, but I still loved life. I loved having friends and partying. I used to have a motto, _work hard, party harder_. From the looks I was getting from passing teens, I knew they wouldn't take the time to get to know me, to be my friend. They would make that snap decision, label me **NERD** and get on with their own lives. I'd never faced this sort of thing before. I used to go to a tiny school with only about fifty people per year, so few people you all _have_ to get on.

I watched all the dark eyes and tanned faces taking in my paler complexion, and I felt alone.

Tessa had left me to wait for Kim. She'd demanded that I wait for her so she could give me the 'grand tour of hell'. When I suggested to Tess about her staying with me she waved me off, saying "I'm a big girl Aly, I can look after myself."

It wasn't her I was worried about.

The crowd pushing past me through the doors was thinning. I guessed it was almost time for school to start. As I stared at the grey clouds that were rolling in, I was completely unaware of the stranger walking towards me until I was knocked over.

"HEY would you watch it?" I yelled as I tried to pick myself up off the floor. I looked up at a boy just under 6ft. The boys here really hurt my neck, what did they feed them?!

"English huh?" I looked at the boys face. He had shining light brown hair and a lopsided grin that reached into his eyes.

"Yeah, I am. Just moved here."

His face lit up, and his mouth made an 'O' shape, "Ooh Alisha right?"

I nodded, confused. "Aly. How do you know who I am?"

His eyes showed a mild panic, but it was quickly hidden. "Err… Embry mentioned Kim had a new English friend. I'm Quil by the way." He stuck out a massive brown hand which I shook politely, secretly thrilled that Embry had talked about me, _me!_ Then I stopped myself, _he was probably just said it in passing, it probably didn't mean anything. Why should it mean something to me anyway?!_

"So Aly, what are you doing outside anyway? Trying to see how many people can knock you over on your first day?" Quil's question snapped me out of my inner battle.

"Very funny." I gave him a sarcastic smile, "No, I'm waiting for Kim. She said she'd meet me out here."

"So what are you then, Junior?"

I looked at him confused. "A what?"

"Senior?"

I shook my head, "English please?"

"What. Are. You?" He said very slowly and painfully.

"A. Human." I said mocking his tone. He rolled his eyes but a grin was still glued on him face.

"Are all Brits so stupid?"

"Are all Americans so blind?"

"Fair play. Well seeing as you are somewhat new to this schooling system I will show you. Seniors are the top end of the school, just about to graduate. Juniors are the year below."

I smiled, finally glad someone had explained that to me. "I guess I'm a junior then. My sister Tess is a senior. We just call it 6th form in England."

"Welcome to American High School, Aly. The worst place you will ever be forced to go to."

I laughed, "It can't be _that_ bad Quil? Anyway, I thought you guys called it '_college_'?"

He looked at me like I was alien, which in some ways I was. "Aly, Aly, Aly." Quil shook his head, "What a fool you are. College is what you Brits call… what is it… 'uni'. It is a place for partying until dawn. It's heaven compared to here."

"Oh."

At least this conversation was educational.

"ALY!!" I heard Kim's voice yell at me, and spun to face her running for cover just as the cloudburst struck.

"Ready for your first day?" She grinned somewhat evily at me.

I shrugged, _as ready as I'll ever be_.

****

_I hate this stupid school system,_ I thought gloomily to myself as I wondered to my next class. I had no frees. I didn't have a clue where my locker was, or how to use it. I couldn't drop the subjects I wanted. Everyone kept asking me to be the Queen or say stupid things because of my accent. I just wanted to get on the next flight home, to my _real_ home.

I was close to tears when I stumbled through the door to my maths class, late.

"What is your name?" I was barked at by some old man.

"Alisha Lawden." I muttered

"Miss Lawden, it would be nice if you could join us _on time_, yes?"

"Sorry sir."

I heard some sniggering. What, did they not say sir here? Then I heard it… "Please **sir**, may I have some more?" A high pitched girl's voice faked the _worst_ English accent I've ever heard.

I nodded, "Oliver Twist is pretty original. Shows you're smart I guess." I yelled at the girl a few seats back. I was through with being nice to these bimbos. I swear the lot of them were idiots.

The old man's eyebrows snapped together. "Miss Lawden, take a seat at the back there, next to Mr Call. Miss Reiman that was an awful impression. Do shut up." He immediately won my respect.

My heart hammered slightly faster as I looked at the back two desks and saw Embry looked at me with those caramel eyes. His hands moved quickly so that the desk next to him was clear. I gulped, hopefully it wasn't audible, and I began walking to the back of the class. As I passed the desk with the blonde bimbo she muttered "British Bitch" under her breath, so I 'accidently' walked into her desk, causing all her papers to fall onto the floor. I smiled sweetly and made my voice sound extra posh, "Oh my golly gosh, I am soo sorry!"

"Miss Lawden, would you please just get to your desk and stop disrupting my class!" The old man could not keep a slight laugh out of his voice.

When I eventually reached my spot next to Embry I sunk into my seat heavily. I let a small smile play on my face though, it did feel good to let my frustration out on that girl.

"That was smooth." I jumped at the dulcet tones. I hadn't expected him to talk, not after his quick exit at the Green. I was quite content just to sit next to him.

"Well she called me a British Bitch." I muttered, not wanting to look him in the eye.

He was silent then, so I turned and looked at him. He was frowning, staring at the girl who had insulted me. He looked so unhappy, so _angry_.

"She shouldn't say that to you." His voice was deeper, darker.

I grinned, echoing Tessa's words from earlier. "Don't worry, I'm a big girl.I can handle people like her"

His eyes met mine, and the anger faded, but it was still there in the corner of his mouth. _Aly what are you doing?_ I warned myself. _Stop it. Stop looking at him!_

I turned back to face the front and took a deep breath.

I was in the middle of scribbling down notes from the board when he spoke again, "I'm sorry I left so suddenly the other day at the Green. Sam needed me to help him at his house."

"It's okay, I understand." I kept writing.

"And I'm sorry we didn't have a proper introduction. I'm Embry Call." I pushed my hair back behind my ear and looked at him, my hand still poised to write.

"Nice to meet you Embry," I flashed him a grin, "I'm Aly."

He smiled back at me, and my stomach felt like I was on a rollercoaster. I didn't realize he was so tense until his shoulders dropped and he leaned back into his seat slightly.

We worked in silence for a while, until he thought up another conversation starter.

"So how is your first day going?"

I made a face at him, "Its alright I guess, it's so different from England."

"In good ways or bad?" He was curious wasn't he?! Not to say I didn't mind…

"A bit of both. You can't change how people react to you," I nodded my head towards blond bimbo, "but it's an experience."

He nodded sympathetically. "Don't worry about those sorts of people. They aren't worth your time."

Touched by his kind words I ducked my head to avoid blushing. "Thanks." I muttered.

"And if you need any help with them just let me know, okay?"

I nodded quickly, returning to the exercises we'd been set.

I mentally shook myself, here was one person being _nice_ to me and all I could do was mutter and nod like some social reject! I still had butterflies, and I found it hard to concentrate sitting so close to Embry. _What was wrong with me?_

In that respect I was glad when the lesson was over, but watching Embry walk away quietly saying "See you later Aly" made me feel worse than I had when I'd entered the lesson.

I sighed and looked down at my timetable. _Quil was right_ I thought, _back to hell._

****

**I hope I got some things right about American Schools and the system? It confuses me. Do you guys have Alevels? hmmm...**

**I'd have England any day ;)**

**Chapter 4 may be a day or two.. or three... I need some ideas of how I'm going to develop this.**

**One week til Christmas!! **


	4. Chapter 4: Mind games

**This one is kind of a filler. I'm not too happy with it until the end. But its a bit of Embry and confusion etc, and I cant say no to a bit of the awkward meetings ;)  
**

**Feedback is welcomed :)**

*******

When the bell finally rang I tore through the school, trying to find the nearest exit.

I flew out of the door, and had to stop myself from running to Tessa's car. But she wasn't out yet, so I scrambled up onto the wall that surrounded the student parking lot. I pulled my knees up to my chest, leaving my bag on the tarmac. My forehead rested on my knees, and it was in this depressive pose that he found me.

I heard him leap over the wall from behind me, and he landed neatly facing me.

"Bad day Aly?" I propped my head up, my chin digging into my knee. looking at him, my stomach did those stupid nervous flip flopping motions again. Not trusting my voice, I just nodded.

Tanned arms pulled his body up onto the wall beside me, much more gracefully than my pathetic clamber. "Tell me about it." It wasn't a question.

Something in my brain snapped. Why did this stupid _boy_ make me feel embarrassed, nervous, shy, and totally vulnerable? It wasn't me! I never blushed, or got stage fright, so why was I nervous around him? Why was I letting some _guy_ make me feel like this? Why was this whole place making me change my perception, my grip, on myself? Was I so shallow that I was letting his _looks_ interfere with my reactions to him?

He wanted to hear my problems? Fine.

"It was just generally awful. I don't understand the teachers, I hardly understand some people's accents, and I the only people I know in any of my lessons are you in Maths and Kim in English! I'm utterly alone." I said in a rush, then taking a deep breath to keep the tears bay.

"I'm sorry I… I'm not usually this mopey or moody. I don't know what's making me like this." I quietly muttered.

He was obviously was a bit taken back. He didn't speak, so I looked up ready to apologies again. He eyes had gone strangely glassy, but it was clear on his face he had no idea what to do next or how to console me.  
I laughed at him; I had the exact same problem. I was useless with advice, and the most I could offer a person was a sympathetic hug. I knew this was the reason I was nervous around him. It might have something to do with his good looks, but it was the fact he seemed so similar to me. He was kind, offering to listen to me. He was a classic _nice_ boy.

In the end he patted me on the back saying, "Its okay Aly, it does get better. You just have to wait it out. It must just be the change from moving, you know, jet lag and all that."

A bubble of laughter erupted from me again, I couldn't help it. Embry's face crinkled up in confusion. In between giggles I managed to stutter out, "You're so crap at comforting, you know that don't you?"

He looked slightly hurt, but it didn't stop my laughter, "I mean _come on_, you just gave me the patronizing pat!"

Realizing his mistake he grinned widely, flashing all his teeth. One tanned hand reached up and tangled itself up in his thick head of hair.

As my laughter died down I saw Tess walking towards the car.

"Ah that's my sister, I better go." I said somewhat regretfully. Without knowing it this boy had cheered me up. It was his awkward way; the concern was evident, but it was sometimes blocked by an awkward, unsure exterior. I wasn't saying Embry was stupid, I guessed he just wasn't very… skilled with dealing with certain situations. Poor guy.

"Okay, let me help you down…" He offered.

"No I'm fine…"

Unfortunately, the wall was higher than I had expected, and I fell to the floor like a proper lady.

Sprawled on the floor, I stared up into Embry's worried eyes and sighed. Typical. Now he would think I was some sort of uncoordinated wreak that needed help. I was all for chivalry, but too much was annoying, overbearing.

He took a step back as if sensing my discomfort, and then started to chuckle to himself. I scowled, "Don't you laugh at me!" He chocked on his laughter, and extended a hand in my direction wordlessly. I grabbed it, and hauled myself to my feet. After dusting myself down trying to regain what little dignity I had left, I looked up and saw his eyes dancing with amusement. I rolled my eyes but smiled slightly. I wasn't annoyed, just embarrassed.

"Al, if you're done on the floor you might want to get in?" My sister was laughing at me as well. Great.

I began walking round to the car when I found Embry standing in front of me. Very close to me in fact. So close I could smell his warm musty scent, he smelt clean, like the air when it had just rained. He was so close I could feel the heat radiating out of him. _You sound like a stalker! An obsessed stalker!_ I scolded myself.

"See you tomorrow Aly. Have a good night, try not to fall over too much." He winked at me, _yes winked_! And then he turned and walked away casually, leaving me feeling slightly dazed and staring after him. I blinked a few times, then clambered into Tessa's car.

"Who was that?" Her tone was disinterested, but I knew better. I looked up and there she was, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"Embry Call. He's one of Kim's boyfriend's friends." And no matter how I tried I couldn't keep the wistful tone out of my voice. Tess had ears like a bat, she didn't miss a beat.

"Embry huh? Hmm very nice. I approve Alisha. You may do what you want with him." She faked our mum's voice.

I stuck my tongue out at her, "It's not like that you perv. So how was your day?"

It seemed Tessa had fared better than me, but she was never one to be without friends.

The rest of the day followed the usual pattern. Talk to parents about new school. Talk about other meaningless thing over a bland dinner. Then I retreated to my room. I'd been able to set up my computer, so I spent awhile catching up with my old friends on Facebook. I couldn't stay talking long however, partly due to my awful connection, and partly due to the fact I missed that place too much.

It was a nice night outside, warm and not too damp. I decided to go and sit outside in the back garden in the hammock we'd brought the other day. "Another plus to having more space" my mum had said. I had to admit it was comfy, so I dragged out some work to do and began.

It was just before dark when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I spun quickly to glare into the trees behind me.

That's when I heard movement on my left.

It wasn't the gentle swish of the trees in the wind.

It wasn't the gentle pad of deer's hooves.

It was a heavy thud. Something large. I slowly turned my head, not wanting to scare off the creature, I wanted to get a look at it.

But I was too slow. It knew it had been spotted, and it took off. I heard the trees rustle in the distance as it escaped. But I had caught a glimpse, a flash of fur, a gleam of teeth.

My heart juddered. Was I seeing things? A _wolf_? Or just a large dog? I hoped it was the latter.

I swiftly gathered up my things and ran into the house, slamming the door.

My dad looked up from his paper in the lounge and called to me, "Is everything alright sweetie?"

I calmed myself down so my voice would not shake, "Fine, I just was a bit frightened by something I thought I saw in the trees. It's silly really."

"Oh I wouldn't worry darling, I was talking to Mick today and he told me about some young man named Sam. He deals with keeping the area safe, makes sure the woods stay free of any terrifying beasts."

I had no idea who Mick was, but I walked into the lounge, curious. "He hunts them?"

My dad peered over his paper at me, glasses halfway down his nose. "Oh no, of course not Alisha! Apparently his methods are peaceful but effective. He has a group of young lads that help him out as well."

"Oh. Well I'm going off to bed now, night dad."

"Night Alisha."

That gave me something to think about. How could you have peaceful but effective methods? It was obvious that the time Kim and I had seen the boys in the Green they were in the middle of something. Paul, Jared and Embry must all be involved with Sam's 'work'. I could understand how he was in security however, the way he looked around when I met him, as if he was taking in every detail. His presence was somewhat terrifying as well.

I crawled into bed. My mind had temporarily forgotten about the large dog lurking in the woods, I could not bring myself to say _wolf_.

But in the dark, my dreams brought my fear to the front of my mind.

***

_**I was running. Trees surrounded me on all sides, branches plucking at my clothes, twisted hands reaching for me. The wind whipped my hair, tugging at my head with little force. I heard a howl on my left, and fear made me run faster. I did not risk looking as I already knew what I would see. Tongue lolling, eyes red, a monster with me in its sights. I heard its heavy thud of paws. I felt its stare. I knew its glee, the thrill of the hunt.**_

_**I urged my feet to run faster, but it was futile. The beast would soon be upon me.**_

_**The trees parted suddenly, and I found myself in a small clearing. I looked for an escape, but found that there was more than one monster here. Out from the trees they came, rising from the shadows. Hellish fires burned in their eyes. Hunger.**_

_**They had been waiting for me for a long time.**_

_**Snarls and joyful howls echoes around the forest as they closed in, circling me. I was done for.**_

_**A man stepped from the trees in front of me. He was huge, towering over the beasts and me alike. He looked deep into their souls with one glance, and with a wave of his hand he scattered their being. A fierce animal suddenly blew away in the breeze, howling in time with the wind as it roared through the tree tops. Every last one of the monsters had been scattered.  
**_

_**And like he had come, he vanished just as quickly. I began to run again, this time not because of being chased, but to follow. Quickly, I became lost. I stopped, staring into the different directions I could take.**_

"_**Alisha." A voice sounded to my left, I turned and Embry melted out from the camouflage of the trees. "Alisha we must go." He held out a hand to me, and I took it immediately. Together we raced through the trees. Within a few moments we had returned to the back of my house. Embry pushed me forward, but I was unwilling to go.**_

"_**Stay with me." I begged him.**_

"_**I cannot. But I will always be watching." And with that he disappeared back into the leaves and branches. I searched wildly for him with my eyes, until a gleam of his caramel eyes was reflected followed by a flash of russet skin.**_

My eyes snapped open.

A voice echoed in my mind.

"I'll always be watching."

What was my subconscious doing to me?!

***

**Told you it was a filler. Sorry its shorter as well, its 00.14 here. I should get to bed, revision revision revision tomorrow. Woo.**


	5. Chapter 5: Scheming lovebirds

**I've just worked out how to see story traffic and WOA I wasn't even expecting one person to read this! Thanks to you all :D  
**

**I've got some nerdish maths lecture tomorrow, followed by a house party (woohoo) so I can either carry on writing now or wait until tuesday... **

**I didn't want to make this one too long, so expect lots of EM/AL in the next one.**

**Enjoy!**

*******

Okay, so maybe I over reacted on my first day. Life was steadily getting better, and I fell into a new routine. Tess and I would get to school, she would saunter off into her new group of 'popular' friends, and I would try and find Kim, Jared, Quil or Embry. After that first awful day Embry somehow had the time to walk me to my first class, find me after my lesson before lunch, and take me to Kim and the other boys. Although there seemed to be a lot of them in their little group, I only stuck with the four I knew. Paul, who I'd met that first time at the Green, hardly spoke to me. There was another one called Jake or Jacob or something, but he wasn't around for long. I got the impression he skived most days. Can't say I blamed him.

Then after lunch I'd be dragged back to lessons, either by Embry, or Kim, or both. I normally had class with one of them in the afternoons, so that wasn't too bad. Tessa kept getting later and later to reach her car at the end of the day. I'd learnt my lesson however, and never again attempted to sit on the wall waiting for her.

But as the days followed a similar pattern, so did the nights. Each time I shut my eyes I seemed to have a dream about wolves and other monsters prowling the woods. Sometimes they would end with Embry reaching out his hand to me. Sometimes dream Embry would turn on me and only lead me deeper into the wolves' lair. But the worst ones always ended with me, alone in the dark, running. I would wake up exhausted, and I never went back into the garden or sat on my window seat staring into the trees.

So now it was Friday, and I'd successfully survived my first week in American High School. Knowing Tess would be at least twenty minutes late today, I stayed with Kim and Jared as they took their time getting out of school.

"So Aly, what are you going to do this weekend?" Kim asked.

"I'm not sure, I don't really want to stay in too much or I'll be roped into cleaning. Do you want to do anything tonight?" I said hopefully. I hated spending Friday nights in alone, Tess had been raving for the past two days about some party she was going to tonight.

Kim let me down though, "I'm sorry, I can't. Jared and I are going out into Port Angeles."

"Oh sure, don't worry about it." I smiled at her, hiding my disappointment.

"But if you want to do something, Embry's not doing anything either." Jared piped up, looking over Kim's head to wink at me. I rolled my eyes at him. He still hadn't let the '_gorgeous_' comment drop. Like a dog with a bone.

Kim joined in as well, "No actually that's a good idea. Quil and Jacob are… away aren't they Jared?" Like a good puppy he nodded.

"Aww come on Aly, don't make that face at us, it doesn't have to _mean_ anything. Just friends staving off boredom together." He winked at me.

I dropped my glare. Embry and I did get on pretty well I guess, and Jared was right, as long as it was _just friends_. But for some reason thinking that made my heart sink.

But it would beat sitting in at home.

"Okay _fine_." I gave in. "But only because I'm sick of the sight of you two lovers all day, and I don't want to put up with it tonight as well."

Jared grinned and loped off saying "Great! I'll go tell him!"

Kim nudged me, smiling. "You have to tell me _everything_" she whispered.

"EMBRY!" I heard Jared yelling in the distance, "YOU'RE TAKING ALY OUT TONIGHT."

As we caught up with him we heard Embry reply, "Am I?"

"Yes."

We walked through the open doors and spotting me Embry looked up, "Where are we going?"

I laughed to try and disguise my blush, "It was the love birds' idea, unless you don't want to? I just don't really like hanging around at home on a Friday." I held my breath, because what if he _didn't_ want to?

He nodded, "I hate that, stuck in and everyone's out." He directed a not-so-subtle glare at Jared, and I guessed he'd been ditched quite a few times. "So I'll come get you at 7ish?"

Before I could say anything Kim spoke for me, "Yep that's great Em, thanks. Okay see you later Aly!" And with that the two scheming brats raced away towards Kim's car.

"Sorry about that" I shrugged, "Are they always this sneaky?" I shifted my bag higher up my shoulder and we walked together to Tessa's car.

"Sometimes, but I'm pretty glad I have someone to hang out with while their all over each other." He grinned at me and I pulled a face.

"I know I hate being the third wheel. And PDA is pretty disgusting."

"PDA?"

"Public Displays of Affection."

He knocked into me, teasingly, "But we're supposed to be out of control hormonal teenagers!"

I laughed, "That's okay on Skins but I feel slightly sick when it's your friends right in front of you."

"Skins?"

I sighed, I wouldn't be having this problem back home. "It's like a cult series in England. Teens having lots of sex and doing drugs."

He nodded in appreciation, "Sounds pretty rock and roll."

"Makes here seem a whole lot more boring though."

"Oh it's not that bad," he winked at me, "you just got to give it more time. It gets _a lot_ more exciting." He breathed the last part at me. I looked up and saw a small smirk on his face. My face crinkled up in confusion, but I didn't say anything.

We reached Tessa's car, and to my surprise she was actually there before me. I turned to say goodbye to Embry and found him already staring at me. I blushed slightly and found myself stuttering under his gaze.

"So… I… I guess I'll see you to-tonight?" I mentally slapped myself. Why was I such a mess?!

He grinned widely and nodded, "Yeah I'll be at yours at 7. Make sure you wrap up warm."

"Why, where are we going?" I asked suspiciously.

But I didn't get a response; he just tapped the side of his nose and walked away. I shook my head as I got into the car.

"What's up geek?" Tess asked as I got in.

"Just Embry being stupid and mysterious on me." I muttered.

"Oooh this Embry boy _again?_" She asked in that annoying tone.

Trying quickly to change the subject I asked her what time she was getting back in from her party.

"Well I'm leaving at eight. Poppy is going to come round and she'll direct me to Cameron's house. Then I'll be back just after 12 probably." Cameron was on the school's football team. I laughed at the 'jocks' here, they thought they were so tough, but honestly they had so much padding they couldn't get hurt even if they tried! I used to be friends with the boys on our school rugby team, they'd come back from each game battered and bruised with no padding whatsoever. I lost count of the times my closest friend had broken a bone or sprained something. Now that was a _real_ sport.

But according to Tess, Cameron was 'so lush' and really nice to be hosting the back-to-school party. I hoped she was right. He sounded like a sleaze.

"Why do you want to know?" She said, still in that stupid 'I know you have something to tell me' tone.

"I'm just going out tonight, and wanted to know if I'd need a key or if you could let me in."

"Where are you going?"

"Out with a friend."

"Which friend?" God, sometimes she was worse than our mum!

I sighed loudly, and then muttered "Embry."

"Sorry WHAT was that?" I could hear the smile in her voice but I was determined not to look at her. "EMBRY? The one you **claim** you have nothing going on with?"

I decided not to tell her anything more, she was going to be like this all night.

But instead of teasing me further, her voice dropped back to normal, "Are you going to tell mum?"

Back in England neither of us tended to tell our parents about any boyfriends. They had only ever met one of Tessa's and it didn't really go down well. I mentally cringed at the memory, that poor guy…

"I'll tell her the truth, that he's a _friend._"

"She'll still make you take the rape alarm though."

I shut my eyes tightly, _oh god._

We arrived at the house and she gave my shoulder a squeeze, "I'll come as well, tell her he's gay or something." I smiled weakly at her.

But all the worrying was for nothing, as soon as we got in my mum breezed out telling us something about a ladies night around at Kim's mum's house and she'd be out til late.

"Are you going out tonight Aly? I'd hate for you to be stuck in on your own. Your father is going out for some business meal as well." She asked as she pulled on her coat.

"Um… no I'm going out with a friend from school."

"Oh lovely dear, have a good time. See you girls tomorrow!" And with that she was gone.

Tess and I looked at each other in slight shock and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shotgun bathroom first!" she yelled, and took off upstairs.

***

Why was I panicking? It was only two _friends_ meeting. Was I dressed too casually? I looked myself over in the mirror again, faded jeans, a giant cozy hoodie, and my favourite black studded ankle boots. Flat of course. My hair was tied into a messy bun, and I'd only put on eyeliner, mascara and lip-gloss. I_t would be dark anyway_ I reasoned, _it won't matter what I look like_.

He'd said be warm, so my trapper hat, scarf and gloves were on the side ready.

I checked I had my phone and money, just in case.

Tess burst through my door, "Aly, have you got my pink shoes?" she wondered in scanning the floor and then looked under my bed.

"Wow Tess you look really nice!" I exclaimed. She had on a simple black dress and her smokey eyes stared out under her long hair which curled down her back in ringlets.

She flashed me her pearly whites, "Thanks Al. You look good too, do you want to borrow some earrings though?"

I always forget earrings! "No its okay I've got some here…"And I shoved on some simple studs that sparkled.

We both scavenged around for her shoes in my room for a while, until I heard a engine roar outside.

"That's probably Embry." I said to her as she looked in my wardrobe.

"FOUND THEM!" She screamed, "Ooh okay have fun on your _date_ Alisha."

I laughed at her, "Tess your American accent should be getting better, but I'm afraid it's only getting _worse._" And I ran out of the room, grabbing my stuff and dodging the pink stiletto that was thrown in my direction.

I raced down the stairs, and the door bell rung just as I was checking myself in the lounge mirror. I looked myself in the eye, and took a deep breath, _do not act stupid tonight Aly. He's just a guy, a normal person like you. You are not incompetent. You can do this. _And with that I went to the front door and opened it.

He was leaning against the door frame, looking slightly embarrassed and biting his bottom lip with nerves. His face lit up when he saw me and his face spread into a wide grin. "Hey Aly." He was almost whispering. All my pep talk washed away when he said my name, and my legs went to jelly.

"H-Hey Embry." And I couldn't keep a stupid goofy smile off my face. I mentally kicked myself and turned my head around into the house. I glanced at him quickly, "You may want to cover your ears…"

"What…?"

"**TESS I'M GOING NOW!!**" I yelled at the top of my lungs, knowing she would hear me upstairs.

"OKAY. HAVE FUN!!"

"**YOU TOO"**

I looked back at Embry and saw his eyes screwed up and he rubbed his ear. "God you've got a massive voice for such a tiny person." I scowled at him and shut the door.

"I'm the tallest in my family I'll have you know!"

He scoffed, "I doubt that!"

"You have _seen_ Tessa haven't you?"

He stopped, "Oh… oh yeah. Wow. But you're so _small!_"he said incredulously.

"Just because I'm not a giant like you!" I laughed and we started walking to his car. It was a deep blue with all black interior. It wasn't a hunk of junk like Kim's but it wasn't exactly top notch either. I didn't notice much else apart from it was very roomy, but then again it must be to be able to fit him inside, he was _massive_.

After I'd clambered in I remembered something I'd forgotten to ask him earlier, "So how exactly did you know where I live?"

He faltered and his hand slipped as he put in his seat belt. His voice stuttered, "I…err…um… I knew you lived near Kim, and she said once before that you only lived three houses down."

My mouth made an 'O' shape. "So where are we off to?"

"I was thinking about going to the beach? You haven't been there yet have you?"

I shook my head, I've always lived by the sea but I hadn't seen the local beach yet. Kim told me it was raining too much for us to go last week.

"Great, I want to see how the beaches are on this side of the pond." I grinned up at him. He smiled lightly as our eyes met, but then he broke eye contact and shifted into reverse. He threw an arm behind my seat and pulled out of our drive. The tanned arm then moved from my seat and threw the car into gear. The whole thing juddered slightly and something whirred within the engine.

"Don't worry about that," Embry muttered to me sensing my body tense. "It's always making weird noises. Jake says it's because I dont use it enough."

I nodded, but didn't relax.

Jake was their mechanic then, the same one who made sure Kim's rust-mobile was 'safe'. I didn't trust him.

"Why don't you use it?" I asked, if I could drive I'd be the worst CO2 culprit! I couldn't _wait_ until I was behind the wheel.

"I run quite a lot, so unless I have to go somewhere really far away or it's not just me going somewhere I run." He shrugged as if it was no big deal. I nodded lightly, _that explains the toned arms and the muscles..._

As we sped away into the night I couldn't help but note how warm the car had gotten with the two of us sitting in such close proximity.

I wound down the window to get some cool air to clear my head.

_Just breathe Aly, and don't do anything stupid. You'll get through this._

*******

**I'm getting pretty into this now. **

**Also, has anyone read the House of Night series? I got Marked the other day and I'm pretty skeptical about it. I mean seriously, she gets touched and turns into a Vampire?! Is it worth reading?  
**


	6. Chapter 6: The beach

**_Do you want to go to the seaside?  
I'm not trying to say that everybody wants to go  
I fell in love at the seaside_**

**I should really do a disclaimer so..**

**blablahblah I don't own anything apart from my original character. All rights go to the author of Twilight.**

**now that's over with enjoy!**

********

"Here we are." Embry's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and back into the present. His voice was a bit shaky, but with what I wasn't sure. Nerves? Relief?

The car journey had been quiet, bouts of conversation every now and then but not enough to keep the silence at bay.

I looked around, it was getting dark already. Opening the door, I felt a gust of freezing cold wind blast into my face, ripping across any exposed skin.

I quickly slammed the door again and looked across at Embry who was laughing at me. "Cold is it?"

I pulled a face at him, "Just a tad." After pulling my hat on, wrapping my scarf around half of my face, and tugging on gloves, I was all set.

"Ready?" He asked, I muffled in response.

"On the count of 3… one… two… three!" We both opened and slammed our doors at the same time and took in the cold. Well, to be more accurate _I_ stood shivering, rubbing my hands together to try and get warm. Embry on the other hand looked like he wasn't affected the slightest. He was wearing an unbelievably thin jumper and loose jeans. Not a hat or a pair of gloves in sight. I shook my head at his stupidity.

"Aren't you freezing?" I tried to ask, it came out more "Mmmf mffm mffmmf?"

He chucked, "What was that sorry?" I pulled my scarf down so it no longer covered my mouth and repeated the question.

"Aren't you freezing?!"

He shook his head, "Not at all. This is _cold_ to you?" He looked at me incredulously.

I nodded vigorously, "I'm used to warmer beaches than this!"

Smiling he carried on shaking his head at me, "Don't worry Aly, I guess it's the native blood." He carried on smiling, but I failed to see what was smile-worthy. He surely must feel _some_ sort of chill in the wind?!

"You don't believe me do you?" I shook my head at him, "Well look come here." I walked over to stand by him and he took one of my gloved hands and tugged the glove off.

"What are you doing?" I asked, fearing for my hand he was about to expose to the ferocious wind.

He just rolled his eyes at me and before I could stop him my glove was off and I instantly felt my fingers begin to numb. But then the cold stopped. There was heat, amazing, red hot warmth, and I realized he had trapped my tiny hand in between his two tanned ones.

I marveled at the warmth, "Wow, I wish my blood wasn't diluted by my stupid English mother."

He chuckled lightly and I looked up and saw him staring at me with a smile on his face. I stared into his eyes for a lot longer than normal people did. Then I remembered my hand was still in his. _Holding hands _a part of me whispered, but I crushed that stupid voice and I pressed my lips together. Looking down I broke the connection.

"Can I ha-have my glove back please?"

"Sure." His voice sounded so flippant, but there was a hint of laughter in it somewhere. I didn't look up to see if he was still smiling.

"So…" I struggled to find something to say, "Do you guys come down here a lot?" I cringed at myself, it sound like some cheap chat up line gone horribly wrong.

"Yeah sometimes, look come on there's the path down over here." I followed him down a steep goat-like path that looked trampled and used. It led from the stony car park down to the beach.

Slippery from the rain earlier, I ended up stumbling when my foot slid off a rock.

"Careful!" Embry yelled turning round to make sure I didn't fall. He had quick reflexes! "You okay?"

"Yes." I muttered annoyed with myself. Stupid.

"Just take it slow." He said more quietly this time. I just nodded.

We finally reached the bottom and I felt a lot happier with sand under my shoes. Without knowing it my face lit up into a huge grin as I breathed in the air. Salty, fresh, it was like home. Tears stung in my eyes and I walked ahead of Embry so he wouldn't see.

The strong wind blew in my face familiarly, tugging at my hair and blowing a few strands around.

"I love coming here." Embry's voice was quiet, as if he didn't want to be heard. I turned back to face him and smiled.

"I know what you mean, it's so…" I struggled for the right words.

"Peaceful?" he offered.

"With this wind? No, more like it blows away the cobwebs."

He nodded, "It's refreshing."

"A place to think." I agreed.

"To get away."

"To be alone."

"Just to listen to the wind and the sea."

"Home." I sighed. It slipped out without thinking. I mentally cursed myself for being so stupid and turned away.

Embry didn't speak. We both listened to the wind together. The steady lap of the sea helped me calm myself and get hold of my emotions. With deep breaths my teary eyes returned to normal.

"Aly, are you okay? Do you want to go somewhere else?" I jumped, not realizing how close he had gotten. Sneaky warm blooded giant.

I looked up and shook my head, pulling a grin firmly into place, "No I'm fine. You know how strong wind makes your eyes water." He nodded unconvinced.

"Come on, I'll show you something."

We walked across the beach together. Sand turned into a rock outcrop which slopped steadily upwards. Embry didn't stop walking, and steadily continued across the rocks. I, being the elegant lady, clambered behind him, my feet stumbling and as it became dark I blindly found foot holes in rock pools. Great. So long favourite boots.

The climb became more vertical, but instead of going up, Embry led me around and along the rocks. There we found another goat path and followed it until we came across a cave dug deep into the cliff.

Embry spun and looked at me triumphantly. "Here! This is where the guys and I normally come. It's sheltered from the rain and the wind."

I was so exhausted I didn't have the breath for a reply; I just nodded and gulped in air.

He laughed at me, "Come on Aly, let's sit down and get out of this wind."

I followed him into the cave, not very far down but deep enough that the howl of the elements became muted and I felt like I was wearing ear muffs.

There were a few logs that were obviously used for sitting, and so I sat down on one and Embry copied me. There was a blackened circle in the middle of the logs, and seeing my gaze Embry piped up, "We have fires in here sometimes, if it's raining or freezing."

I cocked an eyebrow at him, "But I thought _you_ don't get cold?" He held his hands up.

"You got me, maybe not freezing like you, but cold enough."

We shared a smile, and then he got up and started fumbling around behind a larger rock. He came back with some smaller logs and a pack of matches. After a long while with lots of muttering and cursing on Embry's part, I got up and pushed him out of the way.

"Come on let me do it."

"No I've got it." He grumbled at me.

"Give me the matches!"

"Fine. You try it." He flung the packet at me and stormed off to sit down. I laughed mentally. He was a typical, 'I caveman, I make fire!'

In a few minutes I had the fire blazing and went and sat next to Embry, grinning. He stared at me in what I liked to think was awe.

"How did you do that?!"

"Well," I let my grin grow wider, "there is such a thing called _skill._"

He didn't crack a smile so I sighed, "I had to do CCF at my old school. It's like pre-army or navy stuff. I didn't continue it for long, just enough to learn the survival tips like how to light a fire, put up a tent, tie knots, you know."

"Oh. But you did it so _fast!_"

I just grinned, "Well I don't have the warm blood gene, but maybe I picked up the Quileute fire-lighting gene." He laughed at that.

The time past quickly, we slowly shifted closer to each other and nearer the fire as the minutes turned into hours. The small fire steadily burnt down to glowing embers but our conversation still carried on.

It was strange, I hadn't imagined to connect with someone so well. Embry wasn't afraid to argue with me, but he listened to my opinions. He didn't speak over me, he kept quiet when I was serious and didn't mock me. I listened to him as well, he was _interesting_. Boys I had known previously were so boring compared to him. Yet I didn't know exactly what I found so fascinating about him, he didn't seem to have a more exciting life than mine, but he had a positive outlook on life, and laughed at almost everything I did or said. I felt utterly comfortable around him.

He was leaning back on his elbows, legs stretched out towards the fire. I was sat with my knees to my chest, one arm flung behind me for balance and the other was curled over one leg.

"So teach me something else Quileute." I begged.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, I just want to know _something_ about what's in my blood if it isn't warm! I never got told about my heritage or anything."

He laughed at me, but took a moment to think.

"What about animal calls?"

I grinned at that, "Oh I can do a bird call! My dad taught me when I was a little girl."

"Go on then."

I pursed my lips and I remembered when my dad used to kneel beside me and teach me how to whistle in the specific way. A soft call escaped my lips and I smiled, proud.

"That's pretty good but what about…" He cupped his hands around his mouth and a hoot of an owl echoed around that cave.

"Oh I can do that!" I copied him exactly and another echo answered his call.

"Birds are easy," he teased, "wild animals are harder."

"Can you do one?"

He bit his lip, "I can sort of."

"Come on then." I pestered him until he gave in.

"Oh fine." He threw his head back and _**howled**__. _It was a piercing howl that bounced off all the surfaces in the cave, making it sound ten times louder than before. It was the cry of the red eyed wolf in my dreams. The cry of the hunter. I shivered, feeling my skin prickle with fear. Embry stopped and tilted his head back up to look at me. He looked worried, nervous, scared of my reaction.

I tried to force a smile on my face but it cracked and splintered. "Wow… that was re-really good." I stuttered out. He bit his lower lip and looked away. _Great now I've made him angry_ I thought.

The crackle of the fire had stopped and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I stared out of the open mouth of the cave and realized that the wind had died down.

"It's gone quiet outside." I noted to Embry, turning to look at him. He looked at me blankly for a moment until I pointed outside.

"What? …oh. Hey Aly what's the time?"

I looked down to my watched, "Eleven thirty." I glanced back up at him, "Wow that went quick." But he was on his feet looking panicked. He raced over to the opening and looked out.

"Shit." I heard him mutter before he spun round with a grimace on his face.

"What? What's happened?" He ran his hand through his hair and left it there.

"I kind of … well… I … the tide has come in." He forced out, sighing and shutting his eyes. "I'm sorry I should have paid more attention."

"So we're trapped in the cave?" My voice pitched slightly higher than normal. I took a deep breath. We could not be trapped.

He shook his head, "No not trapped. You have your phone right?" I nodded and got it out.

"But who do we call?"

"Pass it here, I'll ring Sam." I chucked it over the fire and he caught it and dialed swiftly.

"Hey Emily, its Embry. Is Sam there?... Oh right yeah I figured. No it's just the tide… yes she's here too… could you tell him? … No I can't just leave her here!! Yes that was me… do you think so? … Okay thanks Emily. Bye."

He shut my phone and passed it back to me. "Okay Sam should be on his way."

"Who was that you rung?"

"Emily, Sam's fiancée. She'll let him know we're out here when he gets in."

"So, what do we do?"

"We could start climbing down I guess?"

I sighed, "Okay let's get going then."

The climb down was terrifying. It was dark, still cold, and I kept sliding into Embry's back. In the end he decided that he was fed up with my lack of 'care' and _forced_ me to accept a piggy back. It was _humiliating_. I was perfectly fine with walking myself, but he insisted.

Okay, so maybe I didn't need that much convincing. I did have my boots to think about.

And maybe it wasn't so bad, at least I was warm, his heat radiated out through that thin jumper.

By the time we had reached the bottom of the cliff a truck had pulled up next to Embry's car on the far side. Two people got out, but from this distance I couldn't tell who it was.

"How are we going to get over to them?" I asked Embry as I slid off his back.

He didn't respond, the two people were walking down so that they could reach the edge of the water.

"Hey Embry, I thought I asked you to _take care_ of Aly!" a voice shouted across the sea.

"SHUT UP JARED." He growled back. Yes, growled.

Jared just laughed on the other side until the other person hit him round the head. I assumed that was Sam.

"WHATS THE PLAN OF ACTION THEN GUYS?" I yelled.

"Well there is one way…" Jared began until Embry cut him off.

"**NO JARED.**" He almost roared across.

"I'm just saying.."

"**NO!!**"

"Jared, that's enough." The order came from Sam, "Now help me with this from the truck."

Embry and I watched as they walked back up to the truck and struggled with getting something out of the back.

I glanced up at the tall boy to check he was okay, he'd sounded so angry earlier. I was surprised to see him shaking from the cold, "I thought you said you don't get cold?" I asked.

"What?" He looked at me confused.

"You're shivering!"

"No I'm not." He said as he was still quaking.

"Yes you are look!" I grabbed his bare hand with my gloved one and held it in front of his face. He stared at me like I was crazy, and then looked at his hand as the shakes became fewer. He took in some long deep breaths and rolled his shoulders a few times until the shaking had stopped completely. I shook my head at him and dropped his hand. Stupid warm blood.

When we turned back to look at the other shore the two guys were pushing a tiny rowing boat into the water. _Oh perfect_ I thought, _now I can be sea sick as well._

***

**I'm eating a Terrys Chocolate Orange and feeling pretty festive :)**

**2days!  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Just friends

**I hate the end part of this one. I had to force it out and it sucks. Luckily the mum part isn't vital so it can be crappy.**

**I just really wanted to get this one out today so I can start the next one fresh tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be a guddun!**

**blablah I don't own anything apart from the original character I've created.**

*******

"Stop being such a skiver Aly!" Tessa yelled at me from through my closed door.

"Shut up Tess." I tried to yell back at her but it came out as a pathetic croak and my coughing began again.

I heard my mum muttering to her outside to get a move on to school and stop pestering me. After I heard angry footsteps stomp their way down the stairs, my mum cracked open the door, her face lined with worry.

"You okay sweetie?"

I nodded, and quickly managed to get out, "I've just got this awful cough and I don't think I should go in today."

She smiled sympathetically and told me to rest. The door closed and I was back in silence, in darkness. I snuggled back under the covers and cursed those stupid boys. I hated being sick.

My mind began to replay the weekend as my body shook from stifling coughs.

_Jared and Sam rowed over to us effortlessly, gliding through the water. Wobbling from nerves, Embry practically lifted me into the tiny boat. _

_I shut my eyes tightly as soon as I sat down. Facing me on one side of the boat were Sam and Jared who had the oars. Embry sat next to me and I found myself getting slightly squished between him and the edge of the boat._

"_Okay, we're off!" Jared proclaimed happily. Suddenly there was a horrible rocking motion that made the pit of my stomach churn. I instinctively pressed my lips together._

"_Hey Aly, I thought you loved the beach?" Embry nudged me. _

_Not opening my eyes, I shook my head, "I love the sand, swimming in the sea, but I do __**not**__ like sailing the high seas in a tiny boat." _

_I heard sniggering, and presumed it was Jared. A gust of wind suddenly rocked the boat more. I groaned from the extra motion and the added cold. I heard shuffling going on but still did not look._

"_Jared, there's no need to be like that." A deep voice sounded, I assumed it was Sam._

"_But if she hurls!"_

_Embry grumbled next to me and I heard a thud, then a small voice said "Ow."_

_I shivered as another burst of the cold air slid over my skin. "How far away are we?" I asked so quietly I wondered if they even heard me. But Embry obviously did, and seeing me shiver he reached one arm around my shoulders. His warmth was like bliss._

"_Only a few more minutes, we'll be there soon Aly don't worry." _

_I smiled weakly and nodded, trying to block out the world, to not hear the lapping of the waves, not feel the steady rise and fall of the boat. I concentrated on my breathing to stop myself from vomiting. That would be awful in front of these guys, I knew Jared wasn't the type to let things go easily._

_I found it hard to focus though, knowing that if I opened my eyes Embry would be __**a lot**__ closer to my face than normal. My breathing automatically tuned into his, and I found myself keeping pace with him, immediately calming me. Then too soon he took his arm away and I felt the chill again._

"_Aly, you can open your eyes now." I cracked them open slowly, and found myself staring into his concerned caramel eyes. _

"_You okay?" His face crinkled with worry. I waving him off, but still took hold of his outstretched hand to help myself out of the rocking boat._

_Embry flitted around me as we walked up, probably out of guilt more than anything else. When we reached the truck and Embry's car, Sam practically demanded that he drove Embry back home, and Jared take me back in Embry's car._

_When he began to argue Sam silenced him quickly, "No. Jared will drop your car back at yours after he's taken Aly home. You're in no fit state to drive." _

_He didn't bother to argue, and we climbed into our separate rides. _

"_Aly, again I'm so sorry I should have…"_

"_Stop it Embry, it wasn't your fault." I flashed him a smile, feeling better after getting away from that stupid excuse for a boat. "We both just lost track of time."_

_He mumbled, but Sam tugged him into the truck before he could say anything else. Jared had to tow me to Embry's car, unwilling to let the night end like this._

_The ride back was quiet, Jared didn't tease me, in fact he was serious when I asked him a question at the end of the night, and I realized that was what Kim sees him. He knew when to be helpful, to be loving, to be kind, and to be teasing. _

_So as we drove up to my house I asked, "How did you come find us? I thought you were out with Kim?"_

"_We were on our way back when we heard the call… got the call from Sam. So Kim dropped me off and we just jumped in the truck."_

"_Just as long as she doesn't get mad at me for ruining your night that's fine."_

_Jared just smiled and shook his head. I opened my door and turned around so thank him when he said, "You like it here right Aly?"_

_I nodded. "Yeah, it's different but its good."_

"_And were you okay with me this afternoon? Kim told me I was too pushy forcing Em and you to meet up."_

_I shook my head and laughed, it sounded like Kim. "Not at all, I actually had fun with him. I think we get along pretty well." I felt a smile creep its way onto my face._

"_That's okay then. I think Em had a good time, even though he'll be beating himself up about the whole tide thing for the rest of the weekend."_

_Rolling my eyes, I said, "Don't let him! We both just were too caught up in the conversation I guess." I saw the light go on in the porch and Tess stick her head out the door, staring. She was so embarrassing!_

"_Anyway I best be off, my sister thinks you're Embry bringing me back on some date."_

_He laughed, "He wishes! See you Monday Aly."_

"_Thanks again Jared!" I yelled loudly and I slammed the door. _

_As I walked up the path Tessa glared at me, "Jared? I thought you were seeing Embry?!" _

The rest of the weekend consisted of me telling Tess and Kim about Friday night, each wanting to hear 'every single detail!' Tess told me her wild party turned out to be disappointing, so she had left early to play mother and wait up for me. My mum didn't get told the full story, for obvious reasons, but she knew enough not to be surprised when I started feeling sick on Sunday night.

At around the time school finished I had a call from Kim.

"Hello?"

"Hey Aly, it's Kim!"

"And Jared!"

"And Embry!"

"Me too!"

"Kim who was that?"

"Quil. Paul is here too but he's trying to do something to my car. Paul… don't you start mucking around with cutting my breaks or anything…"

I heard the phone get passed, and a moment passed before I heard his dulcet tones, "Aly, are you okay?" Embry asked, his voice laced with worry. Still.

"I'm fine, Embry. I just…" I had to break off for a cough, "I think I got a cold from this weather, that's all."

"It's my fault isn't it! To make up for it I'm bringing round your homework tonight." He assured me.

I stumbled for a response, "That isn't really making up for it, its more like extra punishment!" He was coming to my house? With the parents in? Oh no…

"Why you? I mean it's a bit out of your way. Can't Kim?"

"No she's got something with her grandma at the other end of the rev."

"Oh."

"Okay I'll be over at five! Bye Aly!"

"Bye Embry."

Before I hung up I heard a protest from Quil, "But hey I wanted to say-"

My mum chose that moment as I was sat staring at my phone to walk in with a lemsip.

"Expecting a call sweetie?"

I looked up and hoped I didn't gulp too obviously. "No actually I just got one. One of my friends is going to drop round my homework and things I missed today."

"Oh that's nice. Is it Kim?"

"N-no. It's Embry."

Her eyebrows snapped together, "But Embry is a boy's name."

I took a quick breath. "That's because he is a boy."

She stared at me for a long while before making a noise that sounded like _hummff_.

"Just a friend?"

"Just a friend." I assured her.

She nodded to herself, "Well than you can be just friends in the lounge can't you. He won't need to come up here. He'll be able to drop it off and go. Is he a nice boy? Got a job?"

"Yeah he works for Sam, some sort of protection or patrol of the woods."

"Hmmm… Drink this down then Aly." And then she went out of my room.

I sighed, _that wasn't so bad_.

***

The doorbell rang at five on the dot. I hadn't put on any make up. My hair was shoved up, and I was still in pajamas and my fluffy pink dressing gown. I didn't care though, I was sick. Sick people are allowed to look this bad.

I was sat in the lounge watching Parent Trap. Tessa, who was sat a considerable distance away from me, flounced off her seat and skipped to the door. I scoffed, she was such a child.

"Hi, I'm Embry. I'm here to give Aly her school things?"

"Oh Embry! _Hi! _I'm Aly's older sister Tess. Come on in, she's flopped out on the settee like a whale." They both rounded the corner and I stuck my tongue out at Tess, used to her abuse.

"Wow Aly, you look…" _disgusting, minging, gross, sickly_. "…good."

I grimaced at him and waved at a seat. "Show me the money then Em."

He grinned and began to talk me through the work. Then, when my mum blew in from nowhere, he leapt off his seat and went to shake her hand before she'd even gotten out a hello.

"Mrs Lawden, I'm Embry Call. I hope you don't mind me intruding like this?"

"Nice to meet you Embry." I could tell she was flustered by his manners, "And don't you worry about it, it'll be good for Aly to have a friend focused on his studies." She had a hidden meaning that was aimed at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll let you two get on anyway." And with that she had gone, no questioning, no more snide remarks, nothing. Tess, who was sat back in her spot, glanced over at me and gave me a thumbs up. My mum had actually just _approved_ a boy!

When we had finished working Tessa suddenly slid towards me and out of earshot of our mum said, "I've got a date with Cameron on Friday."

"But I thought his party was rubbish?"

"You can't judge someone on the parties they throw Aly." She said loftily.

"Cameron, as in the guy on the football team?" Embry asked.

Tess nodded.

"I'd watch him. He's got a bad reputation with girls." He warned her.

"Don't worry I'm perfectly able to take care of myself. Get on with your work nerds." Tess left us in the lounge, clearly annoyed I had not shared her enthusiasm for this date.

"So what's up with this Cameron guy?" I asked Embry, leaning in closer for the gossip.

***

**I've got a christmas present in store as well.**

**I'm probably going to add it onto the next one and put it up tomorrow late evening or mayybee xmas day if I come online.**

**Happy holidays everyone :D  
**


	8. Chapter 8: One step further

**HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!**

**PRESENT TIME!! It's basically Embry thinking about Aly before he goes to sleep. I'm not happy with it at all, and I wasn't going to put it up but it was begging me. Feel free to skip it if you want. It hasn't got anything vital.**

**Anyway, thank you for all the reviews :D keep them coming! I do a little dance whenever I get one, so that's reason enough!**

**Hope you have an amazing day today!**

**The first part is normal, from Aly's pov. It wrote itself, I couldn't stop typing!!  
**

********

"Aly can you get that please?!" Tess yelled at me from her room. _Yes of course I can open the door to that stupid sleaze while you get ready. Never mind I'm trying to do __**work**_!

I grumbled to myself as I walked downstairs to the front door. I should have gone out tonight, but Kim seemed to have made every Friday night official 'Jared night'. I'd been sick for the rest of the week after the night at the beach with Embry, so I'd been stuck in last weekend as well. I was now well enough to go back to school, and I was going shopping with Kim tomorrow, although I had to guilt-trip her into it.

I was still muttering as I flung open the door, expecting Cameron to be standing there. Tessa's date with him last weekend went well apparently, so they were going to go out again tonight. I didn't understand what she saw in him to be honest, but I couldn't tell her that.

But as the door swung back I was pleasantly surprised. Even in the cold Embry was relaxed in a loose t-shirt and faded jeans. His hair had been messily combed with his fingers and lay tousled above his eyes. Over the past two weeks our friendship had gotten stronger. We seemed to just click. He came over almost everyday while I was ill, not caring about getting sick himself. Even though we only had a few classes together, he'd gone and gotten lesson plans and catch up work from my other teachers. I had to agree with Tess every time she called us geeks.

"Hey Embry, what are you doing here?"

"Kim." He shrugged, smiling. I grinned back and stepped aside to let him in.

"What did she say this time?"

"I think it was, 'Embry, go and hang out with Aly because she's going to be home alone and she'll need some company.'" He put on a high voice for Kim. My eyes flashed slightly, and my smile slipped. I didn't want him come round out of _pity_ or because he was forced!

He must have seen because he continued, "She's really bossy sometimes! But, I don't mean I didn't _want_ to come. I kind of suggested it to her and she concluded it for me." He bit his lip, searching for my reaction.

I waved him off, "Don't worry about it." I led him into the kitchen. "Do you want a drink?"

"You got coffee?"

"We should have… but you'll have to make it. I don't drink it and wouldn't have a clue how you do it."

He grinned, "Typical English with all your tea!"

"Hey! I'm not ashamed of it. I like tea! It's comforting." I held up my hands in protest.

We chatted as I boiled the kettle until a voice wafted down the stairs.

"Aly! I'm guessing that wasn't Cameron then!" She sounded pretty annoyed.

"No, it's Embry!" I yelled back.

"She's going out with that guy _again?_" He hissed at me.

"Yeah, apparently he's nice."

Embry scoffed quietly in disbelief. "That guy is _never_ nice. He always has some hidden agenda. Although sometimes it's not so hidden."

I didn't get a chance to ask him what he meant as Tess came clomping down the stairs.

"Hey Embry." She rounded the corner into the kitchen and sat down heavily on one of the chairs, fiddling with an earring. "So what are you guys doing tonight?"

I looked at Embry. "Probably just staying in. We could get a pizza or something?"

He just nodded.

Then the doorbell went. Again. Tessa squealed and ran past me to the toilet. "Aly, can you let him in? I'll be one second."

I sighed and shared a look with Embry. He chuckled lightly.

Cameron's face was covered with a smirk when I opened the door. I didn't smile at him. "Hi Cameron. Come in, Tess should be ready in a minute or two."

"Thank you Alisha. Don't mind if I do."

He waltzed into my house like he owned it, and headed straight for the kitchen. Plopped himself down into one seat, he looked at Embry in surprise. "Oh hey man. What you doing here?"

Embry jutted his chin out stiffly. "Me and Aly are having a night in."

His eyebrows shot up, and he nodded.

I went and sat down next to Embry, facing Cameron.

"So, Cameron, where are you taking Tess tonight?" If my mum wasn't here to do this, I was going to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible.

"Just out, see a movie, maybe drive around for a bit." He wasn't looking at my face, and I realized that I'd been leaning forward slightly too much, and another button had come undone on my shirt. I instantly shot back in my seat and he actually _leered_ at me! What a creep! Embry saw the same look and grumbled next to me quietly. I attempted to elbow him in the side, but I must have elbowed muscle or something because it felt like trying to bash a rock!

Cameron leaned back in the chair and looked at Embry. "Might take a trip to Push's beach car park you know?" He winked and I felt Embry stiffen up.

Tess chose that moment to enter. Cameron saw her and a smirk spread across his face, "Babe you look amazing. Ready to go?"

She nodded and they walked off to the front door. Just as it closed Tess yelled, "You kids have fun okay! I'll be back before twelve. Mum and Dad are getting in around then too, so make sure Embry's gone by then Aly!"

Once the door had shut, Embry let out a long breath. I turned to him and saw his face contorted with anger.

"Em, what's wrong?!"

"Cameron. He wants to take her to the beach car park." He forced out between his clenched teeth. I looked at him, signaling to carry on. I didn't know what he was getting at.

"It's the place where couples on dates go to… you know…"

My mouth formed a small 'o' and I wrinkled up my nose. "But Tessa wouldn't, she may act like those sorts, but she's not. Really."

"But would she be _able_ to say no?"

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head, "I'm sure it's nothing. Just rumors."

"Embry if you do not tell me right now I will pour this tea into your lap. You may not feel the cold, but I'm sure you can feel the heat."

He sighed, not even smiling a little. This was serious then.

"It's nothing. I'm just wary of him. I don't like the way he looks at… some girls."

I nodded in agreement. "I don't like the way he calls Tessa 'babe'. It made my skin crawl."

We got off the topic of Cameron and ordered takeaway pizza, seeing as neither of us knew how to work my new oven.

A few hours later we'd collapsed onto my settee, surrounded by an empty pizza box, other various food wrappers, and sharing a tub of Ben and Jerry's that I'd found in the freezer.

"So Em, I've been meaning to ask someone about this for a while. You know the woods…" I waved my hand in the direction on the glass doors that led into the darkness. "What kinds of animals live in it?"

He licked his spoon clean and passed me the tub. "Why?"

_Because I saw a wolf and now I'm petrified of walking too close to the trees_. "I was just wondering."

"I guess there's deer, maybe a bear or two, but they tend to stay up north."

I nodded, "So no bigger things, mountain lions, grizzlies, wolves?"

I saw him tense slightly. "I guess there might be a wolf pack near here. It's probably nothing to worry about though."

I pressed my lips together and nodded. He's just confirmed my fear. I was _never_ going anywhere near those woods again.

"Seriously Aly, don't worry about it. Sam, Jared, Quil and I have any dangerous wolves covered." He gave me a wink. I opened my mouth to question what he meant when he continued, "Now pass me back the ice-cream!"

"No way! I'm so not done!"

"Aw no fair! Sharing is caring!!"

"And I don't care!" I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Aly, if you don't surrender the Ben and Jerry's I _will_ have to use force…" I just shook my head at him.

That's when he leapt at me, hands grabbing and missing the tub. My arm flew backwards, but the tub continued moving and it glided through the air to land upright on the carpet a few feet away. We shared a look. Screaming, I launched myself at the tub, but Embry grabbed my legs.

We had a short tousle that ended with him landing on me, squarely face to face.

Our laughs subsided as our eyes met. My breath caught, and I found myself unable to breathe properly. He bit down on the corner of his mouth, something I knew he did whenever he was nervous. I felt the silence building, but neither of us made any attempt to move.

Unable to bear it any longer I opened my mouth and said, "Embry what-?"

But I was cut off unexpectedly by his soft lips. My mind raced a hundred miles a minute, but I managed to shut it up, closed my eyes, and surrendered into our kiss.

It was better than anything I had experienced, when they say in movies about fireworks? That's exactly what it was like. Magic. One of my hands found its way into his hair and tangled itself there. One of his hands rested on my cheek, warming it with his heat. Perfection.

Our moment was broken by a ringing of a phone, his phone. Embry pulled away and we both had a chance to catch our breath.

"I should get that."

My body was screaming _NO_ but I found myself mumbling, "Okay."

He moved slowly, and I sat up, pulling my knees under my chin, watching him.

"Hi Sam." He sighed and closed his eyes. I couldn't hear the other end but his eyes suddenly snapped open. "What? Already? Now? … Yes okay. I'll be there."

He turned around and his eyes told me everything. "You've got to go." I said flatly.

"Aly…" He began. His eyes were filled with such _depth. _His face had lines from worry, confusion, pain.

"It's okay. I understand." I looked down. I didn't want to look into his eyes. There was too much emotion in them.

He crawled over and sat right in front on me. "Aly." A burning hand reached under my chin, forcing me gently to look up. "Aly, I don't want to leave." He whispered quietly.

I didn't say anything, but my eyes unwillingly filled with tears. Me and my stupid reactions! I wanted to reach up and kiss him again. But I didn't. I just sat there, staring at him like a stupid deer caught in headlamps.

"Aly, you're _crying?_" He proclaimed, and the worry overcame any other emotion displayed on his face. "I'm so sorry Aly, I should have know you didn't want me to. I'm such an idiot. Can you please forgive me? We can go back to normal again, just friends."

"Embry," I muttered, "Shut up." He immediately closed his mouth.

"I'm not upset because of that…" I struggled for the right word, "moment. _That _was perfect. I'm upset because I don't want you to go." The last part was barely louder than a whisper.

"I didn't do anything stupid then?"

I smiled weakly, "Not yet."

"And you aren't angry at me for…" I shook my head rapidly.

He let out a sigh of relief and let a grin spread wide across his face. "Good, so you won't stop me from this." And with that his lips met mine again. Perfection returned. This kiss was not hesitant like the first, it was sure and confident.

I remembered the urgency in the tone of the phone call however, and I unwillingly pushed away after a while. Our foreheads rested together and I breathed, "Sam called, remember?"

He sighed loudly and closed his eyes.

Wordlessly, we made our way over to the front door. We shared another quick kiss before he left, but then he was gone. I watched him run away into the woods at the end of my road then shut the door, shivering. My mind ran over our conversation from earlier, _wolves_.

But then my lips tingled and I pressed a hand to them. What would this mean for us now?

****

**SKIP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ EMBRY'S POV. **

****

Embry's POV:

I collapsed into my bed; my body exhausted yet my brain too wired to sleep.

My life had been turned upside down in the past few weeks. All because of _her_. I closed my eyes and pictured Aly. The way she pressed her lips together when she was confused or unsure. The way her eyes always met mine and I could see the green flecks in the brown depths.

She was utterly perfect. I couldn't believe how I had first past over her when I saw her through Sam's eyes, that first night she arrived. He had been acting as guard, checking out the new residents as I was on patrol. I shook my head at my stupidity. How was I so _blind?_ What an earth did I used to think about without her around? That was a question that plagued me often, as my thoughts were now so focused around her; what she was thinking? What she was doing? How could I keep her laughing?

In the same second that I'd stared into her eyes I knew I was feeling exactly what Jared and Sam talked about almost every second of the day. This connection, the bond between us was so strong and secure. It had taken every fiber of my being to control myself from loosing my grip on the human form and succumb to my emotions. But Sam had saved me, dragged me away where I could change into wolf away from her, to protect her from my true self. We had torn through the trees, and I didn't phase back until the morning.

I couldn't stay away from her though. It ached to not see her, and I almost went mad the following week being cooped up at home or at Sam's. He wouldn't let me patrol because I was so distracted, and he would only allow me to visit her house under strict control with either himself or Jared present. It was like being a prisoner, trapped by my own nature. For those few days I truly hated myself, I was going to thrust my problems into Aly's life at some point. It would either drive her away, which would kill me, or keep her by me, which put her at risk of being hurt.

I couldn't stop myself talking to her at any opportunity. That first day she actually _confided_ in me. I was over the moon, overjoyed! The guys were sick of me that night. Even Sam who was tolerant of it all sent me home. Nothing dampened my mood though, I was _ecstatic_.

Then the night we went to the beach I was sure I'd messed everything up. I thought she would be mad, but her emotions always confused me. She wasn't angry when I forgot about the tide, although her terrified reaction to my howl caused me a stab of pain. That was a mistake.

Jared thought it would be _hilarious_ for me to phase in front of her and swim us both across the water. I like to swim in wolf form, but it was _not_ the time to be even **thinking** of telling Aly.

Her reaction to my anger was confusing, but just having her there holding my hand had an amazing calming effect. She kept me from bursting into wolf right then, and as soon as she was out of sight with Jared, Sam and I had run. Run faster than I ever had.

My mind had been so torn. I wanted to be with her, to know her, to love her. But I knew that I had to be slow, take it easy so she wouldn't be spooked. I couldn't exactly walk up to her like, "Oh hey Aly. I'm in love with you. And by the way I turn into a wolf. Oh and I sit in the woods outside your window watching you sleep."

The third week I was in pain. I couldn't see her all day at school. She never sat at her window or outside anymore so I couldn't glimpse her from outside. What choice did I have but go over?

Yes I _know_ I sound like a stalker but I'm not! I just find it hard leaving her.

But now that could all change. I grinned to myself, replaying the night's events over in my head. My anger simmered as I thought of that Cameron creep and the way his eyes lingered on Aly. She was not an object of _lust_. She was perfection, something to be admired and held high.

And then Sam rang, and shattered the moment we had created. I kicked myself at the time for giving into my emotions like some hormonal teenager…which I am… but that wasn't the point! I shouldn't have forced her to deal with that situation so quickly; I should have taken more time. But I didn't and it was done now. I was too blissfully happy to speak to her as I left, but I had let out a rumbling cry and I phased. Sam had sent me away almost instantly; my thoughts could not be torn away from her. I was given boarder duty while the others dealt with the latest addition to the wolf pack.

I turned onto my front, burying my face into my pillow. I remembered the way she smelt, like citrus with a hint of cinnamon. I pictured her in my head, happy and laughing with me as I scoffed down the pizza we had ordered tonight.

As sleep finally came to me, shrouding my mind with a heavy blanket, only one thought lingering, annoying me with its consistent pestering.

_How could I tell her? What words could I master to make her understand?_

_And how would she cope with the truth?_

_****_

**Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for making Embry sound like a softy stalker. He's not supposed to be.**

**I had better hopes for it. Oh well.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  
**


	9. Chapter 9: Decisions

**Okay so I think I rushed into this slightly quickly, but I didn't want to cat-and-mouse thing too long.**

**Hope you all had a great christmas! Start planing those New Year parties ;)  
**

***

"What about this one?" Kim twirled in front of the mirror in another top.

"No, the first one is still the best." I told her as I leaned against the wall, my eye critically inspecting the outfit.

She nodded and sighed, "You're always right Aly."

I smiled, "Don't you forget it!"

As Kim took her top to the checkout I let rip a massive yawn, earning a disapproving look from the cashier.

"Did you get _any_ sleep last night Aly?" Kim muttered to me, yawning herself from my infectiously large one.

"Not really." _Because I'd been up all night thinking about Embry_. "But once I get some lunch I'll be fine."

"Come on," she grabbed her bag off the counter, "there's a Starbucks around the corner."

I let myself order a chocolate cream frapachino, extra cream. I collapsed into the seat opposite Kim and only then took in how many bags' I had. "My mum will be so pissed." I laughed.

Kim shrugged, "Just tell her everything was reduced, you need it all for school, etc."

I nodded, taking a large slurp of my drink. Kim was eying me up suspiciously, and I knew what her question would be before she asked it.

"So Aly, what's up? You've been pretty quiet all day."

I feigned innocence, "Have I?"

"Yes." She gave me a look that said 'don't mess around'. "Did Embry go around yours last night?"

"Yes." I sighed and looked away.

"Oh my god!" My eyes snapped up at her exclamation. "He didn't!!"

"Yes he did."

"Oh Aly! No wonder you've been so quiet! Why didn't you just tell me? I could have helped you through it. You've probably got loads of questions…"

"Kim I _am_ telling you now aren't I! And what do you mean _help me through it_? I don't need tips like I'm twelve!" I snapped at her, confused by her outburst. It wasn't that much of a big deal!

"Wait… Aly, I'm confused, what happened?"

"We were mucking around and well, he kissed me. But I kissed him back. Then Sam rang and he had to go so he left, and then I stayed up for ages thinking about it and I don't know what to do Kim!" I rushed it all out. Kim's eyes widened.

"Oh. Oh I thought you meant he… but he _kissed_ you?"

I nodded and she leaned back in her seat, taking a bite out of her cookie. "But you kissed him back?"

"And now I don't know what to do!" I repeated. "We get on _so_ well as friends and my record with my exs' isn't that great, so if we go out I don't want us to lose that connection."

Kim took a moment to think before pointing her cookie in my face, waving it around like an extension of her hand. "You don't want to endanger your friendship, but from here that relationship could blossom. If you went backwards and tried to forget about it, sure you might be happier and it could be easier, but you might _also_ be plagued by regret." She looked at me mystically, "Seize every opportunity life gives you Aly, and if it doesn't work out at least you know, and I'm sure you'll find it easy to slip back into friendship again. And if not you always have me." She winked.

"But Kim, I… I just don't know what the _right_ thing to do is."

"Okay, this is the decider question. Ready?"

I nodded, confused by her sudden seriousness.

"What did you feel when you kissed?"

"It was… well it was good for one thing. It seemed like everything was complete, and I was unbelievably happy… It just felt…"

"…right, like you were meant to be together." Kim finished for me. I stared at her, _how did she know?_

"Don't look at me like that Aly," she laughed, "I just feel like that every time I'm with Jared."

I bit down on my bottom lip, _just like Embry would_ I thought to myself. But Kim and Jared were so perfect together; I didn't think Embry and I were like that at all. I don't think I _wanted_ Embry and I to be like that.

I looked back to Kim and leaned forward. "But what if we aren't like you two?"

She gave me a sympathizing smile, "Aly, it's not the end of the world if anything bad happens. Just remember that okay? It's natural to give into your emotions at some time."

I nodded, decided. Kim saw my back straighten in confidence and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to him."

"Good. Now, grab your drink and let's finish shopping. Then I'm taking you back to La Push and you are going to find Embry and talk to him."

My resolve faltered. "To-Today?!" I squeaked, feeling my stomach begin to churn like it had when I was on the boat.

"Today." Kim confirmed, and dragged me out the door.

***

"Kim, don't make me do this!" I whimpered as she stopped the car. I had no idea where we were. I didn't want to find out.

"Aly, stop being such a wimp! You were the one who decided to talk to Embry. Now that is exactly what you are going to do!" I stared at her with pleading eyes, but her heart was cold to my puppy dog looks.

She leaned over and popped the door open. "Get out Aly. You'll thank me for this when you are having lots of fun times with Em, if you know what I mean." She gave me a sneaky wink and I scrunched up my face.

"But I'm scared Kim."

"Suck it up. Stop acting like a child! You are a strong, confident woman!"

"You do not need to smoke!"

"What?"

"It's from _Friends._"

"Oh, I must have missed that episode, now OUT!" she unbuckled me and gave me a harsh shove.

"Fine! You're so pushy!" Kim just grinned at me evilly. "Whose house is this anyway?"

"Duh, it's Em's."

I got out the car, took a deep breath, and slammed the door. Kim sped away quickly, not giving me a chance to leap back in if I wanted.

_Suck it up Aly. You can do this. Just walk up, ring the bell, don't run away, talk to Embry, and leave._

I hadn't been focusing on what I'd say to him, my main concern at the moment was actually seeing him. But what about _his_ reactions? What if he just laughed in my face? It could have all been a joke, a bet, or he might not have been thinking straight. He might have come to regret it.

_Stop it_. I pulled myself together and rang the doorbell.

I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and took a deep breath. A woman in her late thirties opened it; she looked me over quickly and raised one perfectly sculptured eyebrow. "Yes?"

"H-hi Mrs. Call? I'm Aly Lawden. I was wondering if Embry is in."

"It's Miss Call actually Aly. I was beginning to think you didn't exist, just another one of Embry's lies." She smiled tightly, and I wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"Oh no, I'm quite real." I flashed a wide smile that I kept reserved for impressing adults. It worked.

"Well come on in then Aly, I'll see if that boy is awake yet. He's out almost every night with Sam Uley's lot. But I assume you know all about that."

I followed her into the small bungalow, my forehead creased up in confusion. "His security work?"

She scoffed, "I see he fed you that same lie. No, I think that boy in messed up in something a lot more sinister. But I've been assured that Sam is trustworthy by many, so at least Embry isn't messed up in drugs or crime."

I just nodded, still confused.

She stopped outside a closed wooden door, banging on it rapidly. "EMBRY YOU HAVE A VISTOR!" She yelled.

I heard mumbling from inside the room. "EMBRY CALL GET OUT OF BED OR I WILL GROUND YOU ANOTHER WEEK FOR SNEAKING OUT LAST NIGHT. AT THE MOMENT I AM OVERLOOKING THAT."

I heard movement and grumbling, and then the door cracked open slightly and I saw his head pop out. "Who is it mom?" His voice was thick with sleep, and his dazed eyes were barely open.

Miss Call nodded once to herself, satisfied he was awake, and then strode away back down the corridor we had just come down. "He's all yours dear!"

Embry then seemed to notice I was standing there, and his eyes sprung fully open.

"Aly, h-hey."

"Hi." I said, keeping to short sentences to stop my voice from shaking with nerves.

We both stood there staring at each other for a while. He opened the door further, and I saw that he was only wearing boxers, his bed hair was awful, and he had a crease indent mark all down one side of his face from sleeping funny.

And I realized in that moment that he was exactly what I wanted. Right here and now, in this exact moment in time, he was all I could think about. I didn't think about the future or the past. I didn't worry about what would happen _after_. I didn't even give a passing thought to what my family would say.

My whole being was screaming at my head that this was what I wanted, what I needed. My hands tingled, itching to settle his messy hair. My heart thudded faster in my chest. His heat rolled off his body and hit mine, causing my stomach to churn and flip flop. My legs went wobbly like the first time I had seen him, what seemed like a lifetime ago, in the Green.

We continued staring at each other, and then wordlessly he stepped to one side and let me in.

His room was unusually tidy, but I didn't know why I had imagined it to be messy. He just gave off that vibe. His covers were thrown off the bed, so I went and picked them up.

"Aly you don't need to do that."

I just shook my head.

"Give me two seconds okay?" I sat on the freshly made bed, and turned to face him. He'd wondered over to a small wardrobe and was pulling on a loose t-shirt and cut offs. Then he came and sat next to me.

"This is about last night isn't it?" I still didn't trust my voice so I nodded, watching him. He raked a hand through his hair, absently combing it. I took a breath and opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off suddenly.

"Look Aly, I know you might have been thinking it through and might regret last night, but I don't. I did it because I wanted to. Not because I was caught up in the moment. I know it was stupid, but I won't act like I didn't want it to happen. You may want to just be friends, and I'm absolutely fine with that if it's what you really want, but I just… I just thought you should know how I felt about you."

He was staring me down, words spilling out. I was listening intently, but I was drawn into his caramel eyes full of determination.

_I'm a strong, confident woman._ I repeated to myself and took a deep breath again.

"I don't want that."

His eyes fell quickly. "Oh."

"I don't want to go back to being just friends."

"You-you don't?" His eyes snapped back to mine, his tone questioning.

I shook my head rapidly. "I don't understand what I feel when I'm with you Embry, but it defiantly isn't something that can be classed as friendship." I grinned at him, "So you certainly won't understand the _relief_ and I felt last night when we kissed."

He laughed lightly, "Oh I think I do."

We smiled at each other, until I said, "So… what does this mean for us now?"

"Well, I think I've done this completely out of turn. Normally you go on dates, then you ask this, then you kiss." He grabbed one of my ice cold hands in his warm ones, "Aly, will you _please_ go out with me?"

I feigned thinking about it, and then I leaned in and kissed him lightly.

When I pulled away he was grinning ear to ear. "Good."

He then yanked me up and raced me out of the room to the kitchen where his mother was standing.

"Hey Mom, Aly's just agreed to be my girlfriend." I squeezed his hand a little tighter, nervous about what this intimidating woman would say.

"Finally Embry! You took what, four weeks to do it?" She didn't even turn to look at us, she just carried on making coffee.

"Mom, shut up." He mumbled.

"You might as well go and get yourself round Sam's. I know you're aching to."

He let go of my hand and went over and gave his mum a hug. "Thanks."

"Okay Embry, just try and ring me if you'll be back late." She sighed.

And then we were out the door, walking down the street. Embry's arm was draped around my shoulder.

"We're walking to Sam's?"

"Yeah."

"Is it far?"

"Not really, I just wanted to walk with you. I like this."

I looked up at his face, "Like what?"

"This." He gestured with his free hand to his arm slung around me. I grinned, knowing how he felt. My shoulders were exactly the right height for his elbows to rest on, and it felt _natural_ being together like this.

Blissfully happy we continued walking to Sam's. The door was open, and Embry seemed to have no issues with just walking in. The whole kitchen was cramped with people eating. Well, to be more precise, large tanned half naked _boys_ eating. They filled the room to near bursting point.

"Hey Embry, Aly." Quil waved over at us from his spot on the table, his face was cramped with a half eaten muffin.

"Hey guys!" Jared walked past us to get to the oven, and took out a pizza.

We got other various nods and waves from around the room. Embry's arm was still around me, but no-one seemed to notice, or care.

"Can't you guys see anything different about us?" Embry said, sounding angry.

"Nope." Quil replied happily.

"Are we supposed to?" Jared added.

"You brushed your hair?" I recognized Paul.

Embry grumbled under his breath.

"Chilax Em! You and Aly are going out! Doesn't take a genius to figure that out, its written all over both your faces!"

"They are?" Quil squinted at us.

"Point proved." Jared concluded.

"We're not surprised. It was going to happen sooner or later." Paul shrugged.

"Let me through boys!" a female voice I didn't recognize rose above the noise and a beautiful girl pushed her way through the starving group.

She must have been in her early twenties, and she really way beautiful, until she turned her head. I stifled a gasp, seeing scarring torn down one side of her face. _What on earth?_ My mind unwilling flashed back to the image of the wolf running away into the forest.

"Aly, its so nice to meet you!" She pulled me into a tight hug. "Embry has talked non stop about you since you arrived!"

"Really?" I turned to look at him, and he was actually _blushing_!

"I wouldn't say non-stop…" he muttered.

I turned back to the girl and realized who she must be, "You're Emily right? Sam's fiancée?" She nodded eagerly.

"I can't believe Embry didn't bring you here sooner!"

"Well… we only sort of started going out about half an hour ago…"

She smiled, "He took his time didn't he!"

Embry was still muttering next to me about everyone interfering, so I quickly changed the topic. We began talking, and Embry was dragged off to eat with the boys. I noticed Sam walk into the room out of the corner of my eye and sit next to him, speaking quickly in his ear.

"Aly." The urgency in Embry's tone caught me right away, interrupting my conversation with Emily. "When did Tess get home last night?"

My face screwed up in thought, "I'm not sure, it was must have been twelve. I heard her but I didn't check the time. She was asleep when I left this morning."

"So you haven't seen or spoken to her yet?"

I shook my head. "Why? What's wrong?"

Embry didn't answer. It was Sam that passed me the object. "We found this in the woods this morning."

It was pink.

I gripped hold of the stiletto.

_Unmistakeably Tessa's._

_***_

**Okay so make me dance some more guys! I was so happy when I saw the hits this story has gotten! and there was me sitting going 'If i get one more hit I'll reach 200!!' I'm now blown away!! (although I am scared of messing the story up.)**

**Let me know your thoughts on the Embry POV from last chapter.  
**

**Happy Holidays!**


	10. Chapter 10: The hunter

**In double figures now! It's getting pretty wolfy...**

***

Sam gave me a ride back to mine. The journey was quiet; I was absorbed with my worrying about Tess. Once we reached my house I yelled my thanks, ran up the path and burst through the door. My mum looked up from cooking in the kitchen in shock.

"Oh Aly, are you back from shopping? Where are all your bags?" Her forehead creased up.

"Oh I… left them at Kim's." Shopping seemed so long ago. "I'm going over there in a bit, I just had to pick over some stuff." She nodded satisfied. I'd gathered that since we'd moved here my mum had become far less paranoid. She no longer questioned me too closely, she didn't seem so care much about how Tess or I spent our time, and she went out a lot more than she used to back in England.

I raced up the stairs to Tessa's room. The door was shut tight and there was no light coming out of the cracks. I knocked lightly before opening it. "Tess? It's Aly. I'm coming in okay?"

The room was extremely dark for almost three in the afternoon. The curtains were drawn tight, but I made out a lump on the bed. I slowly walked over to her.

"You feeling okay?" No response.

"Tess?" There wasn't even any movement. I reached the bed and peeled back the covers. She was curled up in a ball, still in her clothes from last night. Even in the bad light I saw her top was slightly ripped, her jeans were muddy, and her skin was dirty. She didn't look at me so I shook her lightly.

"Tess come on, you're scaring me."

"Aly." Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper and she turned her head to look at me. Her face was stained with tears, and her make up was badly smeared. "Aly I… I didn't know… I couldn't…" she stuttered out before her voice cut out with a fresh flow of tears.

I sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug, feeling her shake with suppressed sobs.

"What happened?" I asked once she had calmed down, grabbing a tissue from her desk and passing it to her.

"Cameron. He…" She stopped taking a deep breath. I gave her shoulder a squeeze. She began to speak, her voice flat, her tone distant, "We went to the beach's car park. He had some beers then drank most of them. I don't like beer so I didn't have any. He… he tried to kiss me but he was drunk, sloppy. He kept saying things, degrading things. I didn't like the way he was speaking to me, and I didn't want him to drive me back drunk. I told him I thought he was pathetic. Then he… he pined me down. He locked the doors, I couldn't get out. So I did that move, you know the one they taught us that time in assembly?" I nodded, the 'Don't hurt me' jab to the eyes.

"So then he got more mad and he…" she shook her head and let out a small sob. But then she pulled herself back together and muttered out, "I took my heel off and I smashed his window. Then I got out and ran. He called after me, shouting. But he was too wasted; he couldn't get out of the door." I sensed more than saw the triumphant smile on her face.

"So you ran back home through the woods?" I asked, shocked. She nodded.

"But Tess why didn't you ring? I could have come, I could have helped."

"Don't Aly! It happened didn't it? Don't tell me what I should have done!" She turned on me angry.

"Tess, I'm sorry."

There was a long pause before she muttered out, "So am I."

"But you're okay?"

"Aside from the cuts and sores on my feet from running, I'm fine."

"We should probably do more exercise." I mumbled. She laughed lightly, and I was glad she still had a sense of humor.

"I'd better have a shower. I probably stink." She shrugged out of my arms and went to pull the curtains. I gasped in horror then swore loudly. Her face had a purplish bruise across the jaw line, her hands and left arm was cut from broken glass, and despite her joking her eyes were hollow and black.

"Tess. I'm going to fucking kill him. You know you can press charges right?"

She shook her head. "No Aly. I want it worse than that. He needs to be taught a lesson. Some girls told me that there was a rumor, that he did the same thing to a girl last year but no-one believed her." Tess went and took a makeup wipe off her desk, inspecting her face before lowering her voice, "She got off a lot worse that me."

Fury ripped through my veins. That boy had been in my house, sat across from me. I should have stopped him. I don't know how, but I should have. He was so smug the whole time, probably thinking about what he could do to my sister. I shook my head, seeing red.

"Tess, I know exactly how we can get him." She spun round, and her eyes widened when she saw my face. Hatred was etched into every line, cold determination shone from my eyes, and anger made my face glow.

"Tell me when you're ready." And with that I stalked out of her room, ready to set my plan into action.

***

Tess drove and I directed her to where I thought Sam's house was. She'd popped _Lungs_ into her CD player, and when I'd reached to skip _Kiss with a Fist_ she'd stopped me, grinning. She turned it up, the bass vibrating through our seats. She sung along loudly. I glanced at her and saw her eyes shine with anger in contrast to the bruise on her face, "_My black eye casts no shadow, your red eye sees no pain."_

We pulled up outside of the house just as the song ended, and she looked at me quizzically. "Where are we Aly?"

"At someone's who can help."

She gave me a suspicious look, "Like the La Push Mafia or something?"

I laughed, "Kind of."

I rang the bell and I heard Emily yell from inside, "It's open!"

I grabbed Tessa's arm and pulled her through. "Hey Emily, this is my older sister Tess." Though at the moment I felt like the older sibling.

Emily had her back to us so just called, "The boys are in the lounge, go on through."

"Who's that?" Tess muttered next to me. I didn't reply, just kept towing her into the house.

Jared, Paul and Embry were in the lounge watching TV and eating. Still. My eyes immediately found the caramel ones and he leapt of their couch so there was space for Tess and I to sit.

"Hey Tess!" Jared said, and Paul actually _grinned_ at her. Wow, maybe he wasn't so moody. Tessa did have that effect on people. Everyone around her loved her. My thoughts then took a sinister turn, _including Cameron._

"Hey guys." She smiled beside me.

Paul suddenly jumped up, "What happened to your _face_?!"

"And your arms!" Jared proclaimed.

Tess looked away so I answered for her, "Cameron." The name slipped off my tongue, laced with hate.

All three of the boys faces darkened. "What do you want us to do?" Embry asked, immediately guessing why I had come back. He directed the question at Tess, but he stared at me.

"I can do it myself-" Tess began but all four of us cut her off.

"**NO!!!**"

"I'd be more than happy to take care of that creep." Paul said.

"We should have believed Anna last year." Jared muttered.

"We should have dealt with him then before he had another chance." Embry agreed.

"What can you do though?" Tess asked.

"Hurt him." Jared said plainly. "Make him scream."

"Make him cry." This was the most I'd ever heard Paul speak.

"If that's what you want." Embry asked me this time.

"Yes. He hurt Tess. He deserves it." The boys all shared a nod and then left, leaving the two of us sitting on the sofa.

Emily chose that moment to walk in, "Aly, can you explain to me why all the boys have just stormed out of the door, and actually _rejected_ my cooking?!"

*******

*****  
**

**Embry's POV:**

I saw red. The three of us lurked outside the scumbag's house until it was dark. Jared consulted Sam as we left the house in wolf form. He was busy with Quil and Jake teaching the two latest additions to the pack, Brady and Colin. The poor kids' were barely over thirteen, and were pretty out of control at the moment. Sam had warned us to be careful, but apart from that he had not dissuaded us from this act.

Lights turned on inside the house, and Jared noted that his parent's must have been home. We waited until he left, driving away in a large expensive car with the passenger window knocked out. I grinned, looked like Tess put up a hell of a fight.

_Let's go_ Paul's voice echoed in my head and we ran through the trees alongside the car. Paul had leapt at the chance for a fight, and it helped that he had a soft spot for Tess.

_Shut it Embry_ he thought at me and I let loose a laughing bark. _She's nice. She yells at people when they get annoying. She didn't deserve that to happen to her_.

_I've been waiting to give this guy a beating all year_ Jared's voice followed Paul's. _He insulted Kim in front of me._

This guy had a lot to answer for. My adrenaline was pumping; he had hurt Tess, which in turn had hurt Aly. Her pain was written all over her face when she had come into the house earlier. He had ruined our perfect day together by doing this to Tess, he had-

_Embry shut up. I do not want to relive your 'moments' with Aly, or hear your reasoning._ Paul's voice interrupted my train of thought. _Look, he's stopped. Time to go_.

_Yeah, it's clobbering time, eh Paul?_ Jared poked fun at our angriest pack member, but he had already phased. I followed Paul's lead and suppressed the wolf within me, forcing my humanity to the surface. And just like that I was back in my skin. We dressed quickly and then stalked out onto the road.

Cameron spotted us and yelled over, "Hey guys, can you give me a bit of help? I'm having a bit of car trouble. Stupid piece of crap just cut out on me." Yeah, sorry Cameron, that was us.

"Sure man!" Paul reveled in every aspect of a fight; he was like a cat with a mouse, enjoying the torment.

Paul popped up the hood and Jared leaned on the car next to Cameron.

"So how'd that date go last night with Tess?" I had a sick thrill from seeing him jump, realizing I was standing close behind him.

"Yeah it was pretty good. She's one to watch though." He motioned to a cut across his eyebrows, "Bit squirmy." He gave a slimy grin.

"What do you mean?" Jared's voice fell an octave.

"Well, you know… she wouldn't give up the goods."

"So what did you do?"

The stupid prick didn't hear the threatening tone in Jared's voice; he took his question as curiosity. "Had to lock the doors didn't I? But the bitch got out."

"How sad for you." Paul's voice dripped with anger, and he slammed down the hood, leaving a dent in the top.

"Hey man! Watch the car!"

"Or you'll what? Hit me like you hit Tessa? You sicken me Cameron. You hurt a defenseless girl!" Paul shook slightly and rounded the car.

"Not yet Paul." Jared warned.

Cameron's eyes darted wildly, and the predator within me howled. The hunt was on.

The three of us moved as one body, cornering our prey. Paul and Jared from the sides, and I drove him from the front. We moved slowly, he stumbled backwards away from the car, into the trees. The woods were our domain.

"Wh-whats going on?" He stuttered out. I took pleasure from his cowardice. "Embry, why are you doing this? I know Paul's got some crush on that slut-" Paul bared his teeth, a loud growl ripped through the trees and stopped Cameron mid sentence.

I understood Paul's enjoyment now. It was _satisfying_ to string him along. To see the fear in his eyes, to draw out every single one of my sentences just to glimpse his reaction. To make him _pay_ for the pain he had caused. "Because Cameron, Tess is Aly's sister. What makes Aly happy makes me happy. What makes Aly upset makes me angry. And guess what? Tessa got very hurt last night. That makes me angry. Then Aly got upset because Tessa got hurt. That makes me very, very mad. In fact it makes me furious." The wolf within was close to the surface, my voice had dropped low and the shudders took over.

Jared loosened his shoulders and stretched his neck like a runner before his race.

"But-but you can't. You can't touch me! You think you can't be punished because you're the 'protectors' of the reservation or whatever! But I'll tell them you're nothing but…but…" He was petrified now.

Paul's face lit up in a sinister grin, "They won't believe you, Cameron."

And with that the stupid boy turned and ran deep into the dark wood.

Jared sighed next to me, "I'm going to enjoy this."

If he had apologized instead of boasting I might have reconsidered. But he hadn't even shown the slightest hint of regret. I let rip a primal howl as I phased and leapt after my brothers.

***

**I must admit I did love writing that last part. I really liked making Embry dark. Thoughts?**

**oh and ps; I laughed when I realized that when I had 9 chapters I had 9 reviews. FanFiction 1 Me 0  
**


	11. Chapter 11: The truth hurts

**It's 1.11am here and I should be asleep because I've got to catch an early train. Instead I'm updating. **

***

It had been weeks, but the rumors still hadn't died down. Cameron was found late Saturday night by a passerby who was out walking. The official story was drink driving. The car had been smashed to pieces by the trees, and the boy inside was a bloody mess.  
He was in a coma for three days before he woke up, ranting and raving. The rumors had begun after he returned to school, his face scarred and torn. His left arm had a tear from his shoulder to the tip of his hand. We had all heard the mutterings of the students.

"_He couldn't have gotten so many injuries from just the car crash surely?_"

"_It looks like he was attacked by a bear!_"

"_Did you hear? When he came out of the coma he was talking about animals in the woods, beasts that chased him. Shadows with teeth and giant wolves._"

I never asked Embry what he had done that night, and he never told me. We didn't wait for them to come back. After retelling the story to Emily, Tess drove us home. Neither of us spoke of it again. Our parents didn't notice her bruises hidden beneath the make up she piled on. No-one at school asked about them, and any time she was questioned, linked with Cameron's accident because of their night out on Friday, she just shook her head and claimed innocence. She was a good actress, showing concern for the scum when she was told about his 'accident' publicly. But after saying that they hadn't gotten on well on the last date, she disconnected herself with any 'girlfriend' status.

October slowly rolled into November, and my relationship with Embry flourished still. I told my mum about him, and she accepted him as a 'good, trustworthy boy.' My dad took an immediate liking to him, saying he used to be friends with his uncle 'back in the day'. Everything seemed almost perfect, and then it was my birthday. Seventeen at last. Nothing much happened, I went for a meal with my family, had a sleepover at Kim's, but Embry told me he was still waiting for his gift he ordered to arrive.

The night I passed my driving test I drove around the rev with Kim acting co-pilot beside me in the passenger seat. We flew through along the roads, blasting out the tunes along the way.

"Hey Kim," I asked as the question popped into my head, "how long have you been with Jared?"

"Since the start of June this year. But I liked him for _a lot_ longer than that."

"Really?" I glanced over at her.

"Oh yeah!" She nodded her head grinning. "It was like a crazy obsessive crush. I didn't exactly _follow_ him everywhere, but I knew lots about him. It was about a year before he actually looked at me. And then that was it."

"It took him a year to look at you?" I asked confused

"Well, a year to look and actually _see_ me, you know?"

I nodded slowly. "And in the months since you've been together, you've never gotten bored?"

She laughed, "No way! There's always something more to find out, something else to do, it honestly never gets boring around him." I could hear the wistful sigh in her voice.

"And have you…" I gestured wildly with my hands.

"Yes Aly, we've had sex." She laughed harder at my blush. "You aren't comfortable talking about that sort of stuff are you?"

I blushed a deeper red, "Not really. Sure I've had experience and stuff but… I don't know." I mumbled more to myself than to Kim.

"What's with all the questions anyway?" Kim graciously changed the subject for me.

"I've just been thinking, I've never had a relationship that's lasted longer than about two or three months, and I…" I pressed my lips together.

"You're worried you're going to get bored with Embry?" I nodded.

"I'm worried because I do actually really like him. Kim, I don't think I've felt this about someone before. It's defiantly not just a crush, it's not lust, but I don't believe its love." I frowned to myself. I had firm beliefs about that sort of thing, Kim may 'love' Jared and everything, but I just truly didn't believe it was possible to find your 'soul mate' at our age!

"If it makes you feel any better I don't think you'll get bored of him Aly. And okay so you don't love Embry, but maybe you're falling _in_ love with him."

My eyes widened, I really didn't like the way this conversation was going. I shouldn't have brought it up. I _hate_ deep conversations about feelings!

Luckily I was saved from having to answer by seeing a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye. I slammed on the breaks, and thanked God we were in the middle of a deserted road.

"Did you see that?!" I asked Kim while peering out into the darkness.

"See what?"

"That movement in the trees!" I hissed.

"No…?"

"Kim look!" I gasped as I stared out into the trees, pointing a shaky hand into the depths on my side. Like back in my garden, there was a swish of a tail, a loud thud, and heavy panting. "Kim can you see that?" I whispered.

But I got no response.

Kim's door was wide open.

My eyes searched for her in panic, until I saw her almost at the trees.

"Kim!" I half whispered, half screamed. "What the hell?!"

"Oh Aly come on," she spun around and stared back at me, "there's nothing out here!"

"But… but I saw…"

"What?"

"Wolf." I muttered out weakly.

"Aly, you don't need to be scared of the wolves around here. They're pretty… tame compared to others." She let out a laugh. A piercing howl echoed her laugh, making me jump out of my skin. I shivered inside the car. The noise was close, far too close for my liking. What made it worse was that Kim didn't even flinch.

"Kim, please." I begged. She rolled her eyes and strode back, slamming the door moodily.

"Really Aly, you _can't_ be afraid of wolves."

"Oh I can," I muttered as I flung the car into gear and made a sharp U turn. "I can be scared of their _teeth_, or their _massive paws_, or their _sneakiness_."

"But…" Kim sighed, and then under her breath, her voice barely louder than an whisper, "you just _can't._"

We sat in silence as I drove to Sam's. Once inside I was surrounded by boys chanting 'for she's a jolly good fellow' (which didn't really fit right) and blowing out candles on a congratulations cake I knew Emily had made from scratch. The cake disappeared quite rapidly, I think I managed to get two slices, but I'm sure Paul had about six. Jared's face was covered in icing, and when I sat down with Embry on the sofa afterward he had acquired some cream on his nose.

"Hey you." He crashed down besides me and I reached up and wiped the cream off with my finger, then popped it in my mouth.

"Ew you just ate off Embry!" Quil's voice sounded from somewhere in the room.

I laughed and shrugged, "It was good cake!" Caramel eyes grinned at me, _my caramel eyes_ I thought.

A tanned arm wound its way around my neck and I settled my head on his warm shoulder.

"Hey Em?"

"Mmhmm." I knew he was about to drift off any second. It was so funny, if we were sat down just watching TV, or just cuddled and not really speaking, **bam** he would be asleep. I thought he had some sort of medical condition before he told me about his security work with Sam took over some nights as well. It was weird, like he had a proper job while still at school. It didn't make much sense to me, and I never asked much about it, thinking it was like he needed the money to help his mum with no dad around.

"You do a pretty crappy job of 'protecting the rev' you know."

I could feel him tense, "What do you mean?"

"Seriously, what do you actually do? There are still wolves out there. Me and Kim saw one while we were driving today!"

"Really?" His tone was sharp, angry.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, I'll deal with it."

"But what do you even _do_?!" I asked exasperated, "You never tell me what these 'peaceful methods' are."

"Well… I…" But I cut him off; finally about to ask all the things I've wanted to. I had no idea where this courage had come from, but there was anger behind it. I could feel the trapped frustration of being shut out bubbling away, eating down my defenses.

"Why do you do it at night as well? You're only a teenager for Gods sake. Normally you have a Saturday job. Doesn't it cut into your school work?"

"Aly… I… I can't explain." I pushed away from him, but it was like battering a rock. Useless.

"Will you ever be able to?" I pleaded with him now. I didn't get a response. He just hung his head. I got up and left him. I walked straight past Kim's darting glares, past Emily's questioning, I just picked up my keys from the table and left. I needed to get away from him. I couldn't stand the secrecy. It wasn't like he was lying to my face, but sometimes not telling the truth had the same effect.

I drove. Drove away from Sam's perfect little house, but I didn't get very far before hot tears began running down my face. I pulled over on the side of the road and banged my head against the steering wheel.

I was being stupid, but why couldn't he just tell me? It couldn't have been that much of a big deal. He knew so much about me, yet I knew nothing about him. I knew he liked his eggs boiled with a slice of toast in the morning. I knew how his eyes sparkled anytime he laughed. I knew he loved his mum. I knew meaningless things like his favourite colour, football team, book, food. But I knew nothing about his past. He never told me what had made him into who he was, who had broken his heart, what his view on the world was, what he believed in.

So much of my thoughts revolved around Embry Call, but who _was_ Embry Call?!

The trees on my right rustled in the wind, it must have been picking up. But then they moved more violently, and my heart almost stopped. Cold fear spiked through my blood as I waited for the wolf to emerge from the dark.

But it wasn't a wolf. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the boy who plagued my thoughts stepped out. He walked around to the passenger side and got in.  
He didn't speak, so I filled the silence by saying, "You almost gave me a heart attack!! I thought you might have been one of those wolves."

But he didn't smile. He didn't poke fun at me. His face was pained and he turned to me. His eyes were blank, there was no sparkle.

"Aly. I have to tell you something."

"Is it to do with your work with Sam?"

"Yes."

The car was filling with unspoken words, and I thought I was about to explode until he finally spoke again.

"I'm not normal Aly." _That was it?_ My head screamed at him. _That was the big revelation?!_

"But what _is_ normal Embry?"

"Not this." He muttered, then grabbed hold of both of my hands.

"What do you feel?" _Flustered and disorientated by you._

"I don't understand."

"I'm boiling Aly, I'm _burning_. It's not _normal_."

"But you said it was genes?"

"Well it's not!" He snapped and I pulled away slightly. "I'm sorry Aly I… I just don't know how I can do this."

Frustrated and my eyes still stinging from crying, something inside me snapped. "For God's sake Embry! Just spit it out! I'm sure it won't kill me!!"

He stared into my furious eyes for a long while before taking a deep breath. "I change."

"You what?" My eyebrows snapped together.

"I can… change. Like shape shift. I change. I turn into an animal." _  
_

I flatly replied, "What." while pulling my hands out of his grasp. He saw my reaction and leaned backwards, raking a hand through his hair. I had no thoughts, it's like when someone says 'pigs can fly!' you either scoff or have no reaction, and then you carry on with your day.

"Aly please, don't think I'm crazy or insane. I turn into a wolf."

"A wolf." I repeated his words like a record stuck on the same song. _wait hold on…_ "Are you mocking me?" I cried incredulously at him.

"What?" It was his turn now to be confused.

"You _know_ how scared I am of wolves. And here you are saying you transform into one like some sort of a … a… _werewolf!" _I was screaming at him now.

"No! Aly I would never!"

"And here I am thinking you were going to be serious with me! Embry, I thought you were going to tell me something, let me in somehow. But you just can't do that can you? You'd rather make up some shit about becoming a shaggy dog than tell me anything about yourself!" Tears were flowing free down my face again. I couldn't stop them. I was fuming. Only one thought was repeating itself over and over in my head, _HOW DARE HE?!?!_

"But Aly, it's the truth!" his face fell, like a kicked puppy his head hang low.

"Save it!" I let my face display my emotions, anger, pain, betrayal. "Get out of my car."

"Aly, please-"

"I said, get out."

He stared into my eyes, they were filled with sorrow and I saw myself reflected in them. I looked a wreck.

"Aly." He breathed my name and reached to touch my face but I cringed away.

"I never wanted to hurt you." His mouth twisted. "I never want to see you cry."

I was exhausted, my anger evaporated when he said my name. _Why was he doing this to me?_

"Why Embry?" I chocked out between the tears. "Why would you do this?"

"Because you wanted to know the truth." That one word _truth_ brought back the pain again. This wasn't the truth. Maybe he didn't even know what the word meant.

"Please Embry, just leave me alone." He looked at me for a short second before getting out of the car and running into the forest. Then he was gone, disappearing into the black night enveloped by the trees. As I sat there, sobs raking through my back, the heavens opened and heavy raindrops splashed against my windscreen. _Perfect_.

And then over the sound of the battering rain I heard a lone wolf cry. My body trembled, but it was not from fear or my shaking sobs. It was a hollow cry, pained and alone. Nothing answered it but the dry noise of the wind and the drumming of the raindrops.

***

**I'm getting impatient, I want to make her find out _properly_!!**

**But as January nears I need to start revising more. I'm so badly motivated.  
**


	12. Chapter 12: Mentally unstable

**I'm seriously pissed off right now, more so when I wrote this. Lets blame it on scumbags and move on. Sorry if this has suffered because of them. Ugh.**

***

I couldn't understand it. Looking back at Embry's 'confession' still made no sense.

_Maybe it was a metaphor?_ Was he meaning he would change for me? He meant he was a wolf as in he was strong, viscous and _furry_?

_Maybe it was philosophical?_ Oh so he was referring to our own suppressed animal within?

_Or maybe it was literal? _No, if that was the case he should be locked in some padded cell far, _far_ away from me.

Unable to get my head around the idea that Embry was **_mentally unstable_** I had stayed awake that night, unable to sleep, unable to concentrate long enough to read a page in my book. I was distracted, I was restless, and I was plagued with this crazy thought that maybe it was the truth? And as the night turned into day break I began having wild daydreams.

_Embry chasing me through the forest, but it wasn't Embry, it was a wolf_.

_Embry in a cell, locked away._

_Embry frothing at the mouth, like a dog._

_Embry growling at people like an animal._

I knew my tiredness was catching up with me when I began to contemplate _how_ exactly he 'changed'. Did his skin peel off? Did he chant a magic phrase? Or did he just sit there, rocking backwards and forwards to get into the 'mind of the wolf'. Was a whole ritual involved, like eating bloody raw meat?

_NO! _the rational part of my brain screamed at the sleep-deprived part. _ITS NOT POSSIBLE. And it's highly unlikely. He's just playing a sick joke on me._

But why? I still did not see any positive outcome of his little stunt. Was he trying to dump me in the weirdest way possible? Was it a sick bet? Or was this just his true, mental self showing itself. But however often the signs pointed towards his questionable mental state, my brain refused to accept that that was the answer. He didn't seem or act crazy usually. He had always been kind, caring, and happy around me. He was careful not to press me too hard on issues I didn't want to talk about, and I in turn never asked him about his past. But I had wanted that to change, I didn't want to be shut out, kept separate. I wanted to know the real Embry Call, and maybe that was just his way of telling me he didn't want me to be such a main part of his life.

No matter how much I raked my thoughts for some plausible reasons or excuses, there was another concern. It was the pain that raked through me, starting in my spine and forcing its way into my head like a migraine. At first I thought it was exhaustion from the tears, the lack of sleep, and the non stop brain usage. But then I figured out it began stabbing harder every time I thought about being away from Embry. Every time my brain reasoned it would be best to end the relationship with him before he became a psychopath, my heart screamed no, and the pounding headache would begin.

Unable to face the day at school, I told Tess that Kim was taking me in to work on some project. She bought it luckily. I waited until her car had turned the corner before leaving the house with only a phone in my pocket, a thick grey jumper and jeans.

I didn't know where I was walking to, my feet put one in front of the other obediently while my mind ran in circles. A rumbling cloud broke my inner battle and I stared up into the grey clouds blowing quickly over. _I hate this stupid place with it's stupid weather and it's stupidly mental boys!_

The fat raindrops plopped down slowly at first, and then they picked up speed and force. I began jogging, eager to find somewhere to take cover. My feet slammed against the wet pavement in time with the thundering claps while my jumper soaked itself through. The cold water made my skin shiver, but I pushed on.

My brain began chanting in time to the rhythms around me, _stupid rain, and stupid boys. Stupid trees and stupid wolves. Stupid Embry and stupid rain. _But then through the sheets of rain I suddenly knew where my feet had been leading me and I cursed them.

The Green lay in front of me, offering no shelter in its open expanse. The only place to get away from the trees would be the woods. It took a fraction of a second for me to weigh the odds, _mystical imaginary Embry-wolf or very real, cold, wet rain?_ I ran full pelt for the nearest section of trees.

I found a good spot underneath a solid old tree and I reasoned that if some animal did come along, I could climb into the tree quickly to escape. This helped to calm me, and I took a few deep breaths to get control of my shaking from the cold. Water dripped down my face from my hair. I let the tears that had welled up in my eyes fall down my cheeks. The rainwater mingled with my salty tears and landed onto the forest floor. I tried to wipe my face, but my sodden sleeve wasn't much help. _At least they wouldn't show in this pouring rain_.

I was wallowing in self pity, angry at Embry, frustrated at myself for not understanding Embry, and I was cold, wet and hungry. I wanted to scream, throw a tantrum. I wanted to rewind the last twenty four hours and be hugged by Embry's insanely warm arms, no matter what the _reason_ for the temperature was. I just wanted him, not caring what he was. _But what if he is insane?_ A part of me asked. I shrugged it away.

"Oh my god, Aly?!" I jumped at the sudden noise disturbing the sound of the rain. I turned around, sniffling, to see a topless boy running towards me. My heart sunk when I realized it was the _wrong_ topless boy.

"Hey, Quil over here!" Another boy emerged from a tree and ran towards me. As they neared I recognized the first speaker as Paul.

"Aly, what are you doing out here?" Quil asked when he'd reached me, enveloping me an a large, _warm_ hug.

"I… well… I went for a run." I stuttered out, desperately trying to stop my tears. The two boys either ignored them politely or just didn't see them.

"Well we've been looking everywhere for you!" He obviously said the wrong thing because Paul gave him a hard shove.

"You have?" I raised an eyebrow as Quil muttered rubbing his arm.

"We might as well tell her." He glowered at Paul who sighed.

"Tell me what?" They exchanged a glance before I groaned, "For fucks sake tell me what's going on! I've had enough wonderful surprises in the past day." I was past the end of my tether, beyond boiling point, I was bubbling over with fury.

"Embry was, well he was worried about you." Paul began.

"That's the understatement of the _century_!" Quil exclaimed. He then turned to me, "He was panicked when you weren't in school. He asked your sister if you were sick, and she told him you were coming in with Kim. He practically leapt on Kim when she arrived, saying she had no idea where you were."

"He was being a complete freak." Paul rolled his eyes. "He demanded that we all had to ditch and look for you."

"Well, us and Sam." Quil interjected, "Jared wouldn't leave Kim's side after the Embry attack. And since when have we minded ditching?" He laughed.

I was silent, taking all this in. Part of me was screaming _he's a __psycho__! _But the other part danced with joy at the thought of Embry being so _concerned_ for me.

But then I remembered that he was the reason I was out here in the first place and my anger flared to the surface.

"I don't see why he's so worried." I put on my bitchy-ist tone possible, "He's the one that made me act this way."

"But Aly, don't you understand? He didn't realize you would react this way." Quil whimpered.

_What?_

"You mean you _know_ what he told me?" If I couldn't let my fury out on Embry, these two boys would do very nicely.

Paul stepped forward to answer, "Yes. He didn't go the right way around it at all. If I were him-"

"**WHAT?! **You **believe** him?!"

"Well if you had listened to him properly maybe you would too!!" His voice rose a few decibels to match my screeching.

"Oh please Paul! Enlighten me further! Tell me **WHY** Embry thinks he's a bloody **WOLF!** Tell me **WHY** you all are so boiling hot? Tell me **WHY-**" I was cut off mid rant by Paul grabbing one of my arms in an iron grip that I weakly tried to wriggle out of. He began pulling me deeper into the forest. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Quil grab her other arm."

"But Paul…"

"**Just do it!!**" Paul growled at Quil, staring him down. The traitor then grabbed my other arm and together they somehow actually _lifted_ me up as I struggled and carried me into the deep dark wood. I screamed, I cursed, I even spat in Paul's face. Nothing stopped them, and as we slowly lost sight of the Green I began shaking in fear. Two things terrified me, the first was that the tiny voice was right _they are psychopaths and are going to murder me in the wood!_ The second was a stronger fear, my fear of the forest in general, and the animals within it.

After a long while we had obviously reached the spot where Paul had decided to silence me forever.

"Paul, I don't understand what you're going to do." Quil muttered next to me. "You can't show her yourself, Embry will be so pissed!"

"Quil, would you shut up for one second! I'm not going to show her. **He** is." _Oh god, they are going to rape me_, was my first thought. But the Paul called out into the trees ahead, "Embry! Aly's here!" There was a rustle of trees on my left and then the _right_ boy emerged. It took one look for me to see that he'd had the same night as me. He looked _awful_. Massive black circled framed his bloodshot eyes. His face was red from small scratches, and his trousers were torn and shredded from the knees downward.

"Paul, what do you think you're doing?!" He yelled when he saw me. "Let go of her!"

The vice like grip on my arm suddenly slackened, and he muttered into my ear, "Aly, don't try and run back. You'll just get lost." And then his arm fell back to his side. Blood began rushing back into my hands, and I just stood there, limp. Embry rushed over to me and crushed me in a boiling embrace. I breathed in his scent deeply, relishing in all my senses tingling whenever he was near. I let a few more tears spill down my cheeks as he wrapped his arms around me, for a few moments I let myself enjoy that feeling of _safety._

But then my memory came flying back down on me, and I pushed him away lightly. My insides were in turmoil. I didn't want him away from me, but I didn't want him around if all he was doing was _lying_.

His red raw eyes were spilling over with worry as I stared into them, "Sorry, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

I shook my head, sniffing slightly. "No… but Embry, I need to know. What were you talking about last night? I've been thinking and I can't… I can't figure out what you meant. Were you being metaphorical? I just… I don't understand."

He laughed hollowly, "I wish I was. But please Aly," His eyes begged me along with his voice and his gripped my shoulders, "please believe me when I say I'm _not_ insane."

I nodded and pressed my lips together, "I'll try."

"Just show her." Paul groaned from the side. Embry's head snapped up at him and he growled. "Embry man seriously! Quil and I are here if anything goes wrong, and she won't believe you otherwise!"

A mix of emotions suddenly raced across his face, and I was surprised that I read each one so clearly. First came anger, then quickly replaced by fear, worry followed but was finally defeated by nervous excitement.

"Aly promise me," He didn't let go of my arms, "_promise_ you won't do anything stupid?" I just nodded, completely unsure of what was about to happen.

"Okay Paul, Quil, ready?" The two boys shuffled slightly nearer so that I was within arms reach.

The boy, _my_ boy let go of my arms, and walked further away from me into the trees. I watched him go with regret laying heavy in my chest and confusion clouding my thoughts.

"Ready?" He yelled from somewhere hidden in the dark.

"Ready." The protectors and guards yelled from either side of me. I wanted to shove them away and run to Embry, to tell him everything was going to be fine, I could accept his weird moments and we could carry on with our lives.

But a noise stopped me before I could put my thoughts into action. There was a sound like ripping cloth, and a loud thud found my eyes locked on a shadow moving out from where Embry had just been standing.

My breath caught in my throat, and a cold stab of fear washed through me, carried around my body by my blood. My stomach felt like it was going to hit the floor and my tongue quivered like I was about to be sick. My whole body was turned into lock down mode. My brain refused to function.

A grey beast slightly smaller than a horse stalked towards me. It was like a mutant wolf, its nose was the same height as my chin. There must have been something in the water around here. It wasn't _natural_. Black eyes stared me down and it halted its advance when it came within a few feet of my statue-like body. I remembered how to breathe as it stood still, gasping in air. My fear still surged around my body, but as it unlocked my lungs, it also unfroze my legs. The grey wolf took one step towards me, twigs snapping under its massive paws. That sound was all I needed to come to my senses. This is was what my dreams had been warning me about for months. I was plagued at night so I would be ready for this.

And so as the black eyes saw into my soul, and the light grey fur rustled in the wind, I was reminded of the hunger in the eyes of the dream-wolves.

And just like in my dreams, I turned and ran. I bolted so quickly that Quil and Paul were too slow to grasp me.

I raced through the trees. They clung to my clothing, pulling me back, slowing me down. I heard a howl behind me and my skin shivered. The howl of the red eyed wolves echoed in my mind and through my ears. They were one and the same.

The heavy thud of the paws crashed behind me, and adrenaline fueled my mad dash into the forest.

My instinct had kicked in, overruling my brain.

I had to get away.

***

**The next one will be in 2010! woo!**

**I'm dressing up as a Robber for New Years ;) Have a good night!!  
**


	13. Chapter 13: Dying to leave

**Hi guys, hope you all had a wonderful new year! Mine was fantastic and cold, I consider myself lucky I didn't loose any toes to frostbite going home with my heels in one hand while walking up a massive hill in my tights. **

**Sorry this took longer than usual, I was recovering from NYE and forcing myself to revise. Boo.  
**

**Ps; One month til I'm 17 today! Cannot wait until I can start driving EEEEEEE!!!!  
**

***

It had begun to thunder. That was what I thought the noise was. But then as the bangs and crashes continued I found the source coming from side of me, not the sky. I knew if I looked I would only see the wolf, its jaw snapping, and its eyes ravenous. I kept my eyes forward, trying to prevent myself tripping over roots and tree stumps on the forest floor. My legs began to tire, and no amount of fear could overcome the ache my body felt. I had managed to keep a lead on the monster but now as I slowed I knew it would be gaining. _It's not supposed to be like this!_ My head screamed at me.

I saw light bursting through the trees ahead, and I prayed I had reached the edge of the forest. I had no idea which way I was running. There was a sound like a tree breaking in two, and on instinct my eyes snapped to see the danger. I expected to see the wolf, fangs dripping. But there was nothing, just trees. My legs kept moving and I burst through the last few bushes. My stomach sunk. _Was there no end?_

The light had come from a small clearing, surrounded on all sides by trees. It was a break in the thick forest. There was no escape. The place reminded me of my dreams, where the wolves would circle on all sides. I shuddered violently, and stared around the circle, but there was no clear path out. My body was exhausted, I didn't have the energy or the will any longer. _Let them come._ I shouted at myself. _There's no point to it all._

I went and stood in the center of the clearing, on my way picking up a large rock. It could take out one wolf if I threw it just right…

"Aly!" A frantic voice called to me through the trees on my right. I spun; the rock in my hand was ready. If it was Paul or Quil who had dragged me here in the first place as some sort of… _sacrifice_ or _meal_ for the wolf they would get a shock. _Sick bastards!_ The trees rustled and my arm drew back.

"Aly?" Embry burst through the leaves, getting scratched by branches along the way. The rock flew out of my hand on reflex, I couldn't help it. It hit him squarely on the forehead, and I took a moment to marvel at my own aim.

Embry stared at me, stunned, "Oh." Then he pressed a hand to his head and dropped to his knees. "Ow." Then he collapsed.

"Embry?!" _Oh shit. Oh fucking shit buggery shit! I've killed Embry!_ I rushed over to his side, his head was bleeding and his eyes were closed. _Fuck. _I then attempted to drag him to my spot in the middle of the clearing which was a strenuous task considering how massively tall the kid was. I still wanted be prepared for the wolf, injured Embry or not, so I pulled a couple more rocks to within arms reach. I knelt next to where I'd dumped Embry. It was around this time I realized he was naked, completely no clothes on what so ever. I pulled my soaking jumper off and draped it over him modestly, blushing myself.

I tried to remember what little first aid I actually knew. I could remember we had been told once in our biology lesson how to look for a pulse and how it was important not to move the victim. _Oops._

Embry stirred slightly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Not dead. "Aly?" His eyes cracked open. I stared into his big beautiful caramel eyes, completely lost until he spoke again, "I'm so sorry, Aly please, I'm… I'm sorry." He muttered. His eyes rolled back inside his lids and my mouth fell open.

"Embry? Embry! Oh no, I don't any sort of first aid! Embry you can't pass out on me! What if it finds me? Embry?" I didn't feel the hot tears streaming down my face, and I didn't acknowledge them until they splashed onto Embry's cheeks. I wiped them off him hurriedly.

"Woa what did you do to him?" A cheerful voice asked behind me. I dropped Embry's head like a stone and spun to face Quil who was grinning at me. My hand reached for one of the rocks at my feet and I launched it at him with all my might. But Quil had better reactions than Embry, and he ducked quickly. Before I was able to reach for another one, my arms were locked behind my back in a pair of burning hot steel hands.

"Paul," I hissed, "Let me go."

"Aly, you really need to get your facts straight." Quil sighed as he walked nearer me. "We aren't the bad guys!"

"You dragged me into the forest to meet my death at the hands of some massive mutant… WOLF!" I spat.

"You think Embry's massive?" I heard Paul laugh behind my back, "You should see me."

"Hey Paul." Quil wrinkled up his nose, "If it worked like that then I think _I'd_ be the biggest."

"What are you talking about?" I snapped, frustrated with their constant confusing remarks and complete lack of getting to any sort of point! But no one replied. Paul was silent behind me, and Quil looked down at his feet. Then I remembered. I had been so focused on the wolf that I had forgotten the events _before_. _Embry_ was the one who walked into the spot where it emerged. _Embry_ was the one who told me he 'changed' into a wolf.

"You… you're saying that Embry was… he was…" I turned my head to look at the unconscious boy. The grip on my hands loosened. Feeling the pressure decrease, I spun on my heel, wrenching one hand out of Paul's grasp to punch him in the eye. He staggered backwards and growled, "What was that for?!"

"Don't try to restrain me again!!"

He muttered under his breath but moved away. I knelt back besides Embry and stared into his face. It was always easy to read, he didn't hide emotions very well. At the moment he looked somewhat peaceful. How could he be _that?_ How did it work? How did it happen? _Why_ did it happen? There were so many questions racing through my head, and no-one to answer them. I sat in silence staring at his face in awe and in fear. This is what he had tried to tell me before, and I couldn't accept the idea of him meaning it literally. I pressed my lips together and reached out hesitantly, as if he would turn into the wolf at any moment. My fingers touched his face lightly; they traced the planes of his cheeks, of his forehead. The heat radiating out of him warmed my hand, and I pulled back again. His mouth opened and he sighed.

"She'll think I'm a monster. Paul… kill Paul. Dragging her around… meat… why… so hard… Jared and Kim had it easier… least I didn't hurt her… probably leave… don't want leave… no… no Aly don't go…" He actually _whimpered_ slightly, so I lay my hand across his forehead.

"I'm still here Embry." I whispered only to him.

"Mmm good. Muffins… Emily make muffins… cake… steak… roast dinner with potatoes… boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew…"

"Oh good, so he's okay then?" Quil came and sat on the other side of him.

I watched his eyes flickering underneath their lids, "I think so."

"How'd you do it?" I looked up and saw his eyes sparkling in amusement.

"I threw a rock at him." I smiled slightly.

He nodded in appreciation, "Good aim! I'm glad I missed that one."

"I could still get you, you know, for dragging me here."

"Well you wouldn't believe Embry! How else would we have gotten you to listen?"

That shut me up.

"So, why Embry?" I asked.

"It's not just him. It's all of us." Quil answered happily.

I looked at him shocked, "What?"

"Oh look, Embry's coming round!" I stared down at the now conscious boy who was staring at me with sleepy eyes.

"I'm naked." He stated.

"Yep." Quil replied smiling. Embry groaned.

"Aly covered you up after she got a good eyeful." Paul called over from his spot.

"I'll hit you again Paul!" I threatened, trying to cover my blush.

Embry sat up and stared at me incredulously, "You hit him?" I nodded and his face lit up with a grin. "I've been waiting so long to do that to him."

I shrugged, "He needed taking down a peg or two." We laughed, and I realized how easy it was, talking like he didn't turn into a wolf at will. That thought made me shudder.

His smile faded quickly and his eyes filled with worry, "Aly," but he didn't continue. There were no words to say, and I didn't want to hear any.

"Show me." I whispered. "And no backing into the shadows. I want to see properly."

He bit his lip. "You won't run this time?"

I shook my head. "I won't run, just don't make any sudden movements."

"Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?" Quil piped up. Embry swiped at him with a hand but Quil dodged it.

"You guys can get lost," Embry glared at them, but they didn't move. "Go on! Scat you mongrels!"

Quil groaned but got up and walked away with Paul. I heard him whine, " But I wanted to _see!_"

Paul grinned and yelled loudly enough for us both to hear, "Five bucks says she runs again!"

"You're on!" Quil replied, and then they were both gone, lost in the canopy of the trees.

Embry stood up, clutching my jumper to keep a little modesty. "Ready?"

I frowned, "But your head?"

He smiled, "I heal fast. Part of the wolfy gene." My expression froze and he sighed, "Too much information, I know."

"Just take it slow with me, please."

He nodded and knelt in front on me. "Aly, just know I would _never_ hurt you. If you want to walk away now I'll understand. I'll even drive you back home. I'll go away, leave you in peace. I just wanted you to know, I don't want to keep this a secret from you any longer."

I sighed and leaned forward, kissing him lightly, trying to communicate everything I couldn't say. I wanted to show him my fear, my terror, but also the exhilaration and the excitement. My forehead rested against his and I wanted to tell him I didn't care what he was, or what he could become. I wanted to thank him for his frankness, however terrifying the truth was. But I didn't. I just stared into his eyes and repeated, "Show me."

He walked a few steps away from me. "Okay." He said more to himself than to me. Then he looked up, "Remember Aly, it's me." And with that he arched his back, letting the jumper fall to the floor. But I wasn't looking _there_; my eyes were focused on his face which was twisted into a grimace. His head then snapped backwards to look up into the sky and it rolled. There was an awful cracking sound as his forearms were flung backwards. It was as if every single bone in his body was breaking. Then he was on all fours, and right before my eyes I saw him change. His limbs suddenly got a hell of a lot longer, and his face, Embry's face, elongated. He shuddered on the spot and hair began growing, longer and longer until it covered every single part of him. His fingers stretched out and gripped at the earth as the hair covered them and they became paws. There was a loud sniffing noise as Embry's head was flung to the side. His nose turned into a snout with a wet nose at the end. I didn't even want to think about where the grey bushy tail sprung from.

His eyes were the last thing to change. I stared into them the whole while as they turned from caramel brown to deathly black. They became massive and stared back at me in hunger. _No_, I caught myself, _this is Embry._ But it was hard to stare at this grey beast and think it was my Embry. It looked too much like my terrifying dream-wolves. As I stared I listed all the reasons why I should _not_ be afraid of the wolf in front of me.

First, my dream wolves had red eyes, and this Embry wolf clearly had black eyes. Therefore I could not jump to the conclusion that this wolf was _hungry_.

Second, my dream wolves were not this _big_. They were smaller, and they were _real_ wolves, not a boy changing into a wolf.

Third, unless my eyes deceived me I did just _see_ Embry turn into the beast now in front of me, so I was forced to accept that he had told me the truth all along.

But despite these reasons, I was still frozen in place with the wolf towering over me. As if sensing my fear, the wolf… no _Embry_ dropped down and lay on the floor. His ears were flat against his head and he whined softly. This act reminded me of a dog I used to own when I was younger, a golden retriever called Eric. It startled a laugh from me and I smiled. I forced my legs to work and I stumbled over to the wolf lying on the floor. I ran my hand through the thick grey fur and he rolled over. I laughed again and scratched Embry's stomach. I shook my head at the absurdity of the situation and stumbled backwards to my original spot. The wolf got up onto all fours when I was a safe distance away, and I could have sworn he winked at me.

The fur of the wolf started to clump together, grey gradually turned into a russet colour. The wolf's limbs shrunk suddenly and the snout looked as if it was being compressed. The change back was faster, and in less than three seconds Embry was standing in front of me again. He ducked quickly and grabbed the jumper which was now covered in grey hair. He tied it around his waist and walked over to me. His expression was wary, waiting for my reaction. I sat down on the floor hard and looked up at him.

"That wasn't so bad." My voice sounded too light, too high.

The forest began spinning, and I clutched at Embry, accidently grabbing the jumper instead. It tumbled down onto my head, and I managed to mutter out a small "oops" before I fainted.

***

**PM me if reviewing doesn't work for you. Apparently it's gotten a bit messed up, thanks to BabySham for pointing this out!!**

**I'll try and have a look, see if something is up.  
**


	14. Chapter 14: Howl

**Sorry this one took longer than usual, I've been working on my HP one and revising for my exams in three days. Oh dear.**

**Anyway, just like to thank Isodele Imagines for her really lovely review that made me go 'AWW!!!'**

**This is a little filler-ish, expect imprint nonsense in the next!**

***

"Thank you so much Kim, dear." My mum's voice stirred me from my blissful sleep. I wasn't dreaming, and I was grateful for the peaceful sleep free of wolves and glowing red eyes.

"Don't worry about it Mrs Lawden, she said she was feeling sick just before we went inside, then she just collapsed! I thought it was best to drive her back here. Oh I think she's waking up now."

I opened my eyes and realized how dark it was. My sense of time was completely out of wack.

"Mum?"

"Aly, you should have said this morning that you felt sick!" She hovered around me. I just frowned at her worrying.

"I'm okay now." I didn't feel okay in the slightest, my whole body ached terribly.

"Sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll leave you girls up here. Kim's probably got lots to tell you about what work you missed." She nodded to herself then swept out of the room. Normally my mum would have stayed, fussed more, but moving here had changed her. She seemed less _interested_ now. I still was unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

Kim stared at me for a while until I waved a hand at her, wincing at the pain of my muscles protesting. "Sit down." She perched on the end of my bed, still silent. I sighed loudly and rolled my eyes at her, "What? Stop looking at me like that! I'm fine!"

"I'm not worried about your _health_ Aly." She gave me a meaningful look, "Are you okay with the Embry situation." My mind flashed back over the memory and I grimaced.

"Its strange, but… I'm sure I can handle it." I didn't like how shaky my voice sounded.

"No freaking out?"

"Not any more." Kim looked confused; she obviously hadn't been told all the details.

"I ran the first time." Her eyes widened and then she started laughing.

"Come on Kim! If you saw a massive wolf stalking towards you, what would you have done?!" The words slipped out before I had thought them through.

She smiled lightly, "Well I didn't run."

"What did you do? How did you _cope?_" I whispered, not knowing whether this was the sort of thing she wanted to talk about.

"Well, our situation was a bit… different to yours." She grimaced. "Jared sort of, phased without actually telling me anything about it first."

She saw my curious look and sighed. Then her eyes glazed over, remembering.

"We'd had a massive fight that day. You see, we hadn't started going out by then. I thought the only reason that he had suddenly began talking to me was because of some bet with Paul. So he was walking me home, and asked me to go out with him at the weekend. I basically blew my lid and started yelling at him, asking why we were friends, why was he talking to me, that sort of stuff.

"He rounded on me, saying there was so much I didn't understand about him. I scoffed, saying that he was one to talk seeing as he barely knew a thing about me. Then he began rattling off a list, my favourite colour, favourite food, favourite film. I said that it didn't prove anything and stormed off. And he just stood there where I left him, still yelling at me. He said I felt cut off from my mother, closer to my father. He knew I wished I had someone to be there for me, to laugh with me and to cry with me. He said he could tell when I was upset because one side of my mouth turned down. We had only been talking a few weeks, but all the things he said were true. It was like he had known me for years.

"But I didn't turn around; I didn't go back to him. I left him and ran into my house. I left him standing in the rain. I watched him from my window, but he couldn't see me. He just stood, letting himself get soaked. After about ten minutes of being glued to the floor, Jared turned and ran down the road, disappearing into the trees by your house. I thought, well no, I didn't think. I just raced after him. I was a lot slower, but I found the spot where he had gone. There were pieces of his shoes scattered in the undergrowth, and I thought he had got attacked by a bear.

"So like the idiot I was, I went in after him. I think I walked around for at least half and hour, and then I heard something following me. When I turned to look he was there, but as a wolf. And well, I didn't run like you because he phased back too quickly. I started screaming at him, I have no idea what I was even saying. But he just came and grabbed me. He locked his arms around me in a forceful hug. I kept hitting him, but he just held me until I'd stopped shrieking. Once I had, he leaned down and whispered, 'I'll always be there for you Kim, but you have to be there for me too. This is what I am.' I can still hear him saying it to me now, and any time we fight he repeats it to me. It's more powerful than just 'I love you'. And, well, here we are now."

She shrugged, and her eyes snapped back to mine. "So I guess everyone reacts differently, I went slightly hysterical, and you, well, you fainted." Kim grinned at me.

"You didn't even have an urge to run? To escape?" Her story rocked me, it sounded so much more _romantic_, but that is what Kim and Jared were like. They were just perfect for each other.

Kim shook her head, "I was too angry for that. But Aly, I can see why you did. Paul made it seem like you were being dragged off to slaughter." She frowned, "We'll have to get him back for that. Although Embry _did_ need a push to tell you. He was so scared about it."

"Well I was pretty terrified too." I huffed slightly.

"But you can understand why he was so nervous? It's a hard thing for them to do Aly. Jared explained it all to me afterward, he said when he first _changed_ he didn't feel human, he felt disgusted with himself. And it's dangerous for us as well, you saw Emily didn't you."

My mouth fell open, "One of the boys did that to her?!"

She looked at me sorrowfully, "_Sam_ did that to her."

I felt a surge of emotion, it was guilt, remorse, terror and pity all wrapped up in a nice bundle. It was so strong my nose burned and I blinked rapidly. Kim caught my mood and shuffled closer, reaching one arm around my shoulders.

"Aly, yes it's dangerous, but you have to decide whether or not you can really, _truly_ accept Embry for what he is. For what any of the boys are."

"Is it all the boys in La Push?"

She shook her head, "They have to have the old blood, from the first pack that protected the tribe generations ago." I nodded dumbly.

"Look, I'll let you think about it. Get some sleep as well, you look pretty awful." She smiled sympathetically.

"Oh, Kim what did you tell my mum?"

She stopped at the door. "You fainted at school and I brought you home."

"What really happened?"

"Embry carried you through the woods to school, he had Quil come and get me, and then I drove you both here. He brought you up, but then left." Her expression darkened, "He's in a bad way Aly."

"Why?" I was genuinely shocked; I hadn't run the second time had I?

Kim looked at me like I was stupid, "You _fainted_ at the sight of him. He doesn't know how you are taking this, but he's thinking the worst. First you _run_ and then you collapse at seeing him? He was always nervous about telling you because he thought you would react the same way _he_ had. Jared said he thought about it constantly, you were never off his mind. Embry thought if you saw him as a monster, then he _was_ one."

"But he's not." I rasped out, my throat felt like it was going to close.

"You should have seen the way he was in the car Aly, I've never seen Embry so," she paused to think, "so desperate."

I didn't have anything else to say, and so Kim left. I went to the window, peering outside. It was still raining just as hard as it had been when I entered the woods. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I felt my hair and found it dry, _of course it would, with Embry's body heat._

I stared deep out into the trees, the place that so haunted my dreams now confused me. I believed Embry, that much was certain. He transformed into a wolf. I knew enough mythology to know he wasn't quite a _werewolf_, at least not my meaning of the word. He could transform at whim, not forcefully with the moon.

I dragged the duvet over to the window seat, and sat there like I hadn't done in so long. I leaned my head against the cool glass and searched my feelings. I thought back to when Embry had phased in front of me. I was scared for us both. That didn't really tell me anything, so I thought back a little further, to when I hit him with the rock.

I felt a little stab of pain when I thought of him hurt, hurt by my own hand. Even if it was only slight as he claimed. I laughed lightly to myself as I realized that I had made him collapse, just as he had made me faint. Admittedly it was from different reasons, but I still found it amusing. I clamped my mouth shut tightly to prevent myself going hysterical, as I knew I would.

I mulled over what Kim had said, and how she never once appeared scared around Jared. Nor did Emily, despite her wounds. I cringed away from that thought and locked it away. I thought back to just before I fainted, I wasn't afraid of the boy when he walked back towards me. When I reached up as I collapsed I had wanted _him_, I felt safe with him. When he entered the clearing after I had run, him being near had taken away my fear and replaced it with security.

I ticked things off in my head, I was not afraid of Embry Call. I cared for him a great deal, too much to stay away from him. I smiled as I realized my feelings, and I knew deep within that he cared enough for me to let me know this hidden part of him. I pained me to think he had been so worried about telling me. I couldn't bear to think that _he_ had been hurt by my own stupid reaction.

I threw open my window and put my head into the rain. I laughed at the ominous trees; I knew what lurked within them now, their secrets had been revealed. It was not the bloodthirsty wolves of my dreams, but _my_ wolf. Embry was out there, probably with his tail between his legs. I pictured the grey wolf from the clearing, and instead of fear, relief washed through me.

I remembered the night we were both stuck in the cave, and how he had shown me the wolf howl. I had to let him know _somehow_ that I didn't care what he was.

I opened my mouth and let a bird call escape my lips. It was loud and it whistled over the sound of the rain and the wind. It was one bright sound in a place of darkness. I repeated it, just to feel the happiness it gave me. I half expected a wolf to howl back to me, but only the wind responded. It picked up and began to roar. I frowned at the noise; it was trying to block my feelings from reaching Embry.

So I tried another animal call, I threw my head back and attempted to imitate Embry's howl from many months ago. It was a poor try, but it was loud.

I waited as the seconds ticked by. The idea became more absurd to me as I waited, and I knew my family would come and check on me if called again. But then I heard the noise I had been waiting for. The same howl from the cave echoed through the air, and reached me through my window. I grinned and repeated my pathetic howl. A different noise replied this time, it was not a sad howl, but a yip. It was joyous and made my grin stretch so much that it hurt.

Satisfied with myself, and still beaming from ear to ear, I shut the window and returned to my bed. I slept soundly again; my nightmares banished and replaced with dreams of Embry and I. We ran through the forest, not in fear, but in hope.

***

**Next one will be Embry POV :)**

**I've missed that kid. **

**Hopefully the whole Kim-Jared thing was okay, I'm not a fan of 'flashbacks'  
**


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